General Motors (GM) has announced the appointment of Ian Nicholls as president and MD of GM’s South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Israel operations, effective June 1.

GM says the move is part of the company’s consolidation of its Africa and Middle East operations.

Based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Nicholls will assume responsibility for the company’s manufacturing, sales and export operations in South Africa, as well as its sales operations in sub-Saharan Africa and Israel.

In his new role, he will report directly to Mario Spangenberg, president and MD of GM’s Africa and Middle East operations, and also current GM South Africa MD.

Spangenberg says Nicholls’ appointment will enable the company to further streamline its sub-Saharan Africa operations from a product, distribution and customer support perspective.

“We are transforming our business across the GM International region, focusing our investments on where the opportunity for growth is greatest. Africa is recognised as the next frontier for growth for the automotive industry. GM is taking the right decisions to ensure our business is best able to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers and to grow sustainably into the future,” notes Spangenberg.

Nicholls says his immediate priority will be both to expand sales volumes in the domestic and exports markets and to provide “outstanding service” to all GM customers.

“We are well positioned for growth with our world-class vehicle assembly plant and high-tech parts distribution centre, based in Port Elizabeth, coupled with our extensive distribution network of over 200 dealers in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Our strengthened portfolio of Chevrolet, Opel and Isuzu passenger and light commercial vehicles will enable us to meet and exceed the requirements of our customers in sub-Saharan Africa. Already last year alone, our Opel sales volumes in South Africa grew by 36%, while our locally assembled Isuzu pick-up volumes increased by 8%. And in Sub-Saharan Africa, our overall sales volumes increased by 31%.”

Prior to this appointment, Nicholls served as GM South Africa operations VP.

He was born in Port Elizabeth, and began his automotive industry career in 1990 at Delta Motor Corporation, where he held several positions, including materials management director, sales and marketing director and planning director.

Nicholls holds an accounting BCom (cum laude) degree from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte.