Story: RALPH MORTON
There will be no direct replacement for Iain Carmichael, the former head of fleet sales at Audi, who left the company at the end of April ‘by mutual consent’.
Instead Paul Sansom will be the man responsible for both Audi’s fleet and retail sales, as the roles are combined into a new head of sales for Audi UK role.
Responsibilities include overall control of both retail and fleet sales – including used cars – for the first time. Audi said the combined role had been created to introduce more efficient and effective working practices across both business and private sales.
“I will be looking to Paul to unify the two teams so that we can maximise synergies and ensure Audi has the best possible sales processes, systems and programmes in place to help us realise our ambition of becoming the Number 1 Premium Brand in the UK,” commented director of Audi Martin Sander.
Paul, who takes up his new appointment from 03 September, knows the Audi brand intimately.
He has been with the Volkswagen Group for the past 10 years, while previous roles include national sales manager and most recently head of aftersales and service.
Paul succeeds head of operations Alison Jones, who in business car news earlier this year moved into a new Volkswagen Group role. However, Paul’s portfolio has been expanded to take in Audi Fleet Sales, the departmental head of which will report directly to him.