GM South Africa Appoints New Vice President of Operations

General Motors has announced the appointment of Ian Nicholls (51 years old) as GM South Africa"s Vice President of Operations with immediate effect.  Based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, he will assume responsibility for the company"s manufacturing, purchasing, quality, planning and vehicle sales, service and marketing operations in South Africa. In his new role he reports directly to Mario A.  Spangenberg, President of GM"s Africa operations.

A key focus in his new role will be the strengthening of GM South Africa"s operations in support of its drive to grow its domestic and Sub-Saharan Africa export sales volumes.  "The company is now well positioned to enter the next phase of its growth plans with its three new vehicle assembly programmes having recently come on stream," says Spangenberg.  "The appointment of Nicholls into this new role enables us to further streamline our operations from a product, distribution and customer support perspective."

Prior to this appointment, Nicholls served as Vice President of Planning for GM South Africa since January 2010. Before that, as part of an international service personnel assignment he worked as Global Segment Director for utilities and pick-ups, based in Warren, Michigan in the USA.  During his time there he was responsible for global portfolio development for these segments.

Between 2003 and 2007 Nicholls was Director of Planning for GM South Africa with overall responsibility for strategic planning, product portfolio planning and programme execution of vehicle programmes (including HUMMER exports), the integration of GM South Africa into the GM global product planning operation as well as the introduction of an expanded product portfolio. Three years prior to this, he was Director of Sales and Marketing based in Johannesburg.

Another career highlight included a three year special assignment at Adam Opel in Russelsheim in Germany where he was involved in the integration of the South African purchasing operation into GM"s worldwide purchasing process and also the investigation of opportunities to improve the material flow, flexibility and lead time between Europe and South Africa.

Nicholls began his automotive industry career in 1990 at Delta Motor Corporation where he held several positions including Manager of new Business Development, Managing Director of a catalytic convertor subsidiary company and Director of Materials Management.

Prior to joining the automotive industry Nicholls completed his articles at Deloitte and Touche. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree (cum laude) from the University of Port Elizabeth and is a qualified chartered accountant.