As the automotive industry faces some of the toughest legislative challenges in over 100 years, Mazda Motors has made changes to its European and UK sales leadership teams to manage the smooth transition to electrification for customers and dealers.
After 12 years in role, Peter Allibon, Sales Director Mazda UK, will move to Director, Sales and Dealer Network for Mazda Europe, responsible for 22 markets and reporting directly to the Vice President of Sales and Customer Service, effective 1st November.
Laura Brailey, Head of Retail Operations, will replace Peter as Sales Director of Mazda’s UK business.
Laura joined Mazda (formerly MCL Group in the UK) as an Analyst in 1995 before promotion to Consumer Programmes Manager, Business Manager in the North West, Used Car Remarketing Manager and Fleet Marketing Manager, Regional Business Manager (South) and her current role as Head of Retail Operations.
She takes on the new responsibilities at a time of significant change in both Mazda and the wider auto sector. The role of Sales Director is critical to the journey to full electrification and the evolution of how people buy cars.
Peter joined Mazda UK in 2008 as Fleet and Remarking Director, moving to the sales role in 2011. Prior to joining Mazda UK he was the Country Brand Manager, Mazda Credit UK with Ford Financial – responsible for the Mazda UK retail finance activities. He worked in a number of roles prior to this in Ford Credit and the banking industry.
In his new European role, Peter will be responsible for many aspects of sales planning across 22 markets, with sales totalling in excess of 160,000 units per year, and the strategic relationship with Mazda’s European dealer networks.
“We are living through a period of unprecedented change in the auto sector,” commented Jeremy Thomson, Mazda UK Managing Director. “This is almost certainly the new-normal and our 120-strong network recognise that Mazda has a unique advantage in the stability of the leadership team, not often seen in the industry. Mazda UK has always maintained an extremely open and collaborative approach and these changes will continue to build on that and the close working relationship we have with our partners.”
“In his 12 years as Sales Director, Peter has been a huge presence in our Mazda UK culture. He has navigated some tough times, including of course, the pandemic and the more recent challenges with supply constraints and post-Brexit operational changes and the opening of a new port-of-entry in Bristol. His move to Mazda Europe is a fantastic move for him, and I wish him well in his new role.”
“Following Peter’s move, I am delighted to promote Laura to Sales Director, she has worked alongside Peter for many years in one of the toughest roles in our business delivering retail sales performance month after month, building customer loyalty and renewals strategy and managing the network relationship which performs strongly in independent surveys. Her 28 years’ experience and familiarity with Mazda UK and our dealer partners is a huge asset to the business-critical role of Sales Director and I look forward to both the stability and the fresh thinking Laura will bring to our sales and dealer operation teams.”
