Rolls-Royce has announced its third chairman in two years. Ian Robertson, currently managing director of BMW South Africa, will take up the role in February 2005.

Robertson started his career in the motor industry as a graduate trainee with the Rover Group in 1979, rising to managing director of Land Rover by 1994.

In 1999 he moved to BMW South Africa and presided over a quadrupling of the business through an export drive. In October he was named South African automobile “Industry Man of the Year 2004”.

The last incumbent, Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, left in October to head Alfa Romeo. Tony Gott, the first chairman under BMW, left under similarly sudden circumstances last May.

Rolls- Royce is struggling to meet sales targets for its sole Phantom model and announced a convertible variant in November.