Mercedes-Benz UK’s network operations director Angela Shepherd has been appointed chief executive of its manufacturer-owned dealer business, Mercedes-Benz Retail Group.
Shepherd, who has long experience with the Mercedes-Benz brand, has spent the last five years in her current post, responsible for ensuring the UK dealer network could handle Mercedes’ rising sales volumes and remain profitable.
Having come up the ranks at Mercedes through dealer operations, aftersales, training and network strategy, Shepherd becomes only the third female leader of an AM100 franchised dealer group.
Her task will include ensuring the motor retailer continues to improve profitability and adjust to the changes in consumer behaviour and new market trends.
In 2016 she was recognised by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and Autocar in a list of the top 100 British women working in the automotive industry, and Mercedes-Benz UK’s group chief executive Gary Savage described her as “unanimously admired” for the way she conducts business.
In 2016 Daimler sold Mercedes-Benz Retail Group’s market areas in Birmingham and Manchester to Hong Kong-based international retailer Lei Shing Hong.
The sale left Mercedes-Benz Retail Group with dealerships within Greater London, overseen by Vittorio Braguglia, who stepped down as chief executive this month.
The AM100 top 20 dealer group achieved £1.1 billion revenues in 2018 but made a £29 million loss in “another challenging year for MBRG”, according to its Companies House accounts.
That result drove an “organisational restructuring” at the business in the same year, and its board was confident of improvements in 2019.