South Africa’s automotive industry has seen a number of shake-ups in the first two months of the year.

WesBank has announced the appointment of Mark Finlayson as the CEO of its Motor division following the departure of Simphiwe Nghona on February 1.

Nghona has joined Standard Bank as its vehicle and asset finance head, effective March 1.

Finlayson is the current CEO of DirectAxis, a subsidiary of WesBank specialising in nonsecured personal loans.

He takes on his new role from March 1.

Prior to joining DirectAxis, Finlayson worked for Mweb, an investment bank in the UK, Rabobank International and Richemont International, working in London and Geneva respectively.

New Mini Boss
BMW Group South Africa has announced that Thilosh Moodally has been appointed the new head of Mini South Africa.

She succeeds Kabelo Rabotho, who left the company at the end of last year.

Moodally, a qualified chartered accountant, joined BMW Group South Africa’s finance department at the German manufacturer’s Rosslyn plant, in Pretoria, in 2003.

In 2006, she joined the BMW Aftersales division and moved to the sales channel development department in 2014.

New MD at Mazda
Japanese car manufacturer Mazda Motor Corporation has appointed South Africa’s Craig Roberts the new MD at Mazda Southern Africa.

Roberts currently serves as the head of sales at Mazda Southern Africa. He will start work in his new role on April 1.

Roberts will take over from David Hughes, who arrived from Australia in 2013 with the mandate to set up Mazda Southern Africa as a standalone entity with its own dealership footprint, following its local split with US manufacturer Ford.

Within a year of Hughes’ arrival, a new Midrand-based Mazda Southern Africa head office was built and 52 dealers identified to look after customers in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.

On October 1, 2014, Mazda Southern Africa started operating independently from Ford.

Under Hughes’ leadership, Mazda increased sales from around 4 000 units in 2014 to an all-time sales record of more than 12 000 units in 2016.

Continental Tyre
Continental Tyre South Africa (CTSA) has appointed JJ Dowling the manufacturing GM at its Port Elizabeth plant.

He replaces Wayne Brown, who has taken up a position at Continental Tire in the US.

Dowling has a long association with Continental, having started his career at CTSA as a student in 1996, studying rubber technology. After completing his studies, Dowling formally joined CTSA in 1999 as a curing technologist in the product industrialisation department.

Most recently, he served as plant manager for Continental Tyre, in Alor Setar, Malaysia.

“It is fantastic to welcome JJ back to the Continental Tyre South Africa family, after heading up the plant in Malaysia,” says CTSA MD Shaun Uys.

“The tyre industry, and the manufacturing business, in general, are extremely competitive and challenging, and we are confident that JJ will impart his wealth of experience to the team as we strive for greater efficiencies, productivity, growth and overall sustainability.”