Lookers’ motor division managing director, Peter Jones, will become the group’s chief executive on September 30.

Current incumbent Ken Surgenor will step down from the board of the major AM100 dealer, after he reaches his 65th birthday in August.

However, Surgenor, CEO since 2002, will remain with Lookers, heading its Charles Hurst division in Northern Ireland.

The group, which is raising £81 million through a shares issue to cut its debts, recently hired FD Robin Gregson, a former colleague of Jones, and Lookers’ major stakeholder Tony Bramall from their days at CD Bramall.