Volkswagen Group South Africa announces senior appointments
Volkswagen Group South Africa has announced two senior appointments in two of its brands.
Mark Handley has been appointed as Head of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, which is one of the three brands currently operating in South Africa under the umbrella of Volkswagen Group South Africa. The others are Audi and Volkswagen Passenger cars.
Mark has enjoyed a long and successful career at Volkswagen Group South Africa. His more recent assignments have been as Head of Sales for Audi South Africa from 2005 to 2010 where he enjoyed significant success in growing the market share of Audi. This was followed by a move into the Volkswagen Passenger Car Sales portfolio in 2011 where Mark played a big role in retaining Volkswagen’s Position as Number one in the Passenger Car Market for the last 7 consecutive years.
Mark is well respected both within the structures of Volkswagen Group South Africa as well as by the Volkswagen and Audi Dealer Network. His success is based on a collaborative approach and one where he always seeks to achieve a win/ win situation.
Mark played a key role in bringing about a significant improvement in Volkswagen’s Dealer Satisfaction Index thus helping to make the Volkswagen Franchise one of the most desirable in the industry.
Ryan Searle becomes the National Sales Manager for the Volkswagen brand following Mark Handley’s move to Volkswagen Commercial brand. Ryan will be responsible for all sales channels with additional responsibility for volume planning.
Ryan is well known to the Volkswagen Dealer network with his career including motor retail experience with Barloworld Motor in Cape Town between 1993 and 2002 within the Barons Volkswagen and Audi franchise.
In 2002, Ryan joined the Volkswagen Group and held both sales and marketing positions in the Audi and Volkswagen brands before being appointed to head up Audi in 2008. Ryan then took up a foreign assignment in 2014 with Audi in Taiwan and returned home to South Africa in 2017. Since returning to his home market, he has been responsible for various key projects including aspects of the Integrated Mobility Solutions in Rwanda.
“Based on the incumbents track records with the company, I am certain that these new appointments will further strengthen the Passenger and Commercial brands in South Africa,” says Stefan Mecha, Sales and Marketing Director of Volkswagen Group South Africa.
