Eastern Western Motor Group joint managing director Peter Collin is set to retire at the end of 2022, with his counterpart Keith Duncan assuming the role of group managing director, with responsibility for the entire group and its strategic direction.
Douglas Brown, the group's owner, becomes chairman and chief executive, and three of EWMG's current franchise directors are being promoted to divisional managing director positions on the main EWMG board.
Duncan said Collin's 30 years of loyal service to EWMG "has been pivotal to the group’s growth" and he will be sorely missed.
"On a personal level, I will miss him and I hope he has a long and healthy retirement."
The three new divisional managing directors are Magnus Wang, John LaTrobe and Graham Affleck, who Duncan said have an average service with EWMG of more than 30 years each.
Their vacant posts are being filled by internal promotions - Victoria Steel becomes franchise director of all BMW and Mini businesses, Andrew Oag becomes franchise director of EWMG's Nissan and Mazda operations, and Debbie Inglis becomes franchise director of the group's Mercedes-Benz operations.
"Peter retires at a time of significant planned growth for EWMG, so now was the right time for Douglas and me to strengthen the EWMG board," said Duncan.
EWMG is gaining on the £1bn turnover mark this year - its 2021 revenues totalled £818m which make the group the UK's 18th largest motor retailer in the AM100.
On top of that, it has added new businesses in 2022.
In February 2022 it purchased an off market investment of Halbeath’s Car Village in Fife, an 8-acre site containing seven car showrooms.
EWMG now represents Honda, Nissan and Toyota from that location and, after an extensive refurbishment, in October it opened a new Mercedes-Benz passenger car dealership to cover the Fife area of Scotland. The three other dealerships on this site are currently let to other motor groups.
It also gained the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles franchise for Edinburgh and the Lothians, its first representation of VW CV, and it gained the Toyota franchise for Stirling, which is currently trading from temporary premises while a new showroom is developed alongside EWMG's existing Nissan and Honda dealerships in Stirling.
As editor, Tim is responsible for the media content, planning and production of AM's multiple channels (AM print and digital magazines, website, social media and contributing to our events planning). He interviews and writes about as many franchised dealer groups and UK divisions of motor manufacturers as possible, to explore the issues facing UK motor retail and understand what solutions dealers and suppliers are using to overcome these.
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