Management changes at Stellantis UK means new role for Lee Titchner

Senior management changes at Stellantis UK have led to its group managing director Maria Grazia Davino taking direct responsibility for the development of its retail network.

It comes less than six months after Davino took over the lead at Stellantis UK from Paul Wilcox, was tasked with improving group performance and restoring the faith of its Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Vauxhall, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Jeep dealers as retailer morale had hit rock bottom. She told AM in December how she rapidly paused plans to switch to agency contracts until significant issues were ironed out and both Stellantis plus its retailers would be confident of success.

Lee Titchner, who has spent seven years as network development director, has now been appointed LCV director at Pro One, Stellantis’s umbrella organisation overseeing all its UK brands’ light commercial vehicle business. He will report to Davino.

Tony Lewis moves from his current post as UK LCV director to a new role of commercial vehicle business development director, responsible globally for all major key accounts for delivery vans. Lewis will report to Anne Abhoud, head of commercial vehicles for Stellantis’s ‘enlarged Europe’ division.

Tom Ray, who has been with the group since 2004 in various roles, becomes B2B operations director, reporting to Eurig Druce, VP sales at Stellantis UK. Ray is a former general manager and regional operations director with Stellantis & You, the retail group once known as Robins & Day, and a former head of regional operations for Peugeot.

And as AM-online recently reported, Steve Beattie has returned to Vauxhall as its sales and operations director after six years at Volvo and Nio. He will also report to Druce.

Maria Grazia Davino said: “I would like to welcome Lee, Steve and Tom to their new roles and wish them all every success in delivering on our Dare Forward 2030 commitments. 

“Lee’s broad and varied knowledge coupled with his strong relationships with the network will enable him to lead the Pro One strategy at Stellantis, with our ongoing focus to maximise our market share for LCV in UK and maintaining industry leadership in electric vans.”

“This approach, with the newly-created delivery van sales role, will strengthen our collective offering and coverage, supporting our strategic aims in the LCV market. I am delighted that one of our team will take the lead on such a strategic position and I would like to thank Tony for his great contribution to the UK team.”

“I welcome Steve back to the group. Steve’s wide experience across sales and aftersales, integral knowledge of the Vauxhall brand and positive network engagement skills will make him a valuable asset in driving our Vauxhall sales results forwards. Finally, I congratulate Tom on his new role and know that his extensive sales and leadership experience will enable him to drive forward our plans for the fleet market.”

Davino has appointed the ICDP to moderate between the national sales company and its franchisees as it seeks to work out, together, how to make direct-to-consumer new vehicle sales work in the UK.

In the last NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey every single Stellantis franchise – Vauxhall, Citroen, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, DS, Peugeot, Jeep – was rated as poor value and was fighting each other for the bottom of the ranking.