Craig Roberts
Japanese car manufacturer Mazda Motor Corporation has appointed South Africa’s Craig Roberts as 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 has increased sales from around 4 000 units in 2014 to an all-time sales record of more than 12 000 units in 2016.
“Craig Roberts is an outstanding senior manager and he has proved himself with a stellar record as head of sales. With a person of his experience and business acumen, we did not need to look far for our new MD. I am confident that he will lead our Southern Africa organisation to even greater heights in the future,” says Hughes.