Nick Richards becomes Stellantis B2B director as part of major restructure

Nick Richards will replace James Taylor as B2B director at Stellantis, as part of a significant restructure of the organisation.

The changes, which will all take effect from January, will lead to greater centralisation of support services across the group and go hand-in-hand plans to revise the group’s retail network.

James Taylor, currently acting managing director at Vauxhall and B2B director for the group, will be confirmed as Vauxhall's permanent managing director.

He was appointed B2B director in 2021 and led a strategy to centralise key fleet sales functions, which included large fleets, leasing and rental companies, and specialist fleets being managed at group level, giving them access to all the brands under the Stellantis umbrella.

Richards moves into the fleet role from his current position as director of used vehicle operations.

DS and Alfa Romeo will be paired into a newly created premium division, headed by Julie David, currently the managing director of Peugeot UK.

In this new role, she will oversee the first adoption of agency contracts for Stellantis, as DS and Alfa's new contracts come into effect in May 2023, and David is also tasked with delivering an "elevation of the customer journey" to ensure the brands and their retailers provide the experience a premium brand buyer would expect.

Vauxhall's marketing director Adam Wood will be promoted to managing director of Peugeot UK.

Current Alfa and Jeep UK head Damien Dally will become the managing director for Fiat and Abarth, while Jules Tilstone will move from his current DS leadership role to head Jeep.

With current Fiat boss Greg Taylor moving into the managing director role at Citroen UK, Eurig Druce will take the new role of director of network operations for Stellantis UK, leading the newly centralised team responsible for working on a multi-franchised regional basis on sales and aftersales development.

Customer experience and quality will also become a group office function, focusing on all brands, led by Stephanie Howson, currently retail sales director with Vauxhall.

Paul Willcox, UK Group managing director, said: “We have a significant electrified product offensive in the coming years placing us well ahead of the UK Government’s mandate for zero-emission vehicles.  Our new management structure for our UK operations prepares us for the future and leverages our core strengths.  We anticipate significant opportunities for our Retail partners through this restructure with a clear strategic direction.”

Van sales will get extra focus, through a new LCV division of four brands (Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat vans) headed by LCV business director Richard Chamberlain, and retailers will be given LCV franchises separate to the car sales contracts for the first time in the shift to agency model.

A group role responsible for used cars and remarketing will be announced in due course, and the current group office management remains unchanged, with Faraz Ghani responsible for customer management, Titchner remaining head of network development, Mark Pickles leading parts and service, Jeremy Townsend heading communication and events, and Daniel Altes responsible for finance.