GERRY CLARKE APPOINTED AS COUNTRY MANAGER, FIAT GROUP AUTOMOBILES IRELAND

FIAT Group Automobiles is delighted to announce the appointment of Gerry Clarke to the role of Country Manager, FIAT Group Automobiles Ireland, with immediate effect. He takes up the reins from Yann Chabert, the outgoing Country Manager, who has been assigned responsibility for FIAT Brand within France Business Center.

Gerry comes to Ireland following a successful assignment as General Manager in Serbia and in total brings more than 30 years of experience to the role. He began his motor industry career as LCV sales manager for The Ian Skelly Group in 1984 and joined FIAT in 1986 as Zone Manager for the Northern region in the UK. Having swiftly progressed to Regional Marketing Manager, Regional Director and Director, Dealer Development in the UK, Gerry headed to South Africa to work within its Commercial Operations in 1998 and then relocated to Turin in 2002 to take responsibility for achieving the sales results for the FIAT brand through its worldwide export group of contracted partners. Prior to departing for Serbia in 2011, he also spent four years as Country Manager for FIAT Professional in the UK.

Commenting on his new role, Gerry said: "I'm honoured to be coming to Ireland to lead what is a hard-working, dedicate and loyal team. Building on Yann's hard work, it is my intention to increase the momentum behind our growth by making sure that our ever-evolving product portfolio is more visible, more competitive and simply more irresistible to Irish customers."

Steve Zanlunghi, Managing Director FIAT Group Automobiles UK and board member of FGA Ireland, commented: "We are excited to have someone of Gerry's calibre leading the charge in Ireland. Following on from the solid foundation laid by Yann Chabert, we are confident that Gerry will bring his international experience to bear on the challenging Irish market as we look to further grow our brands and achieve our financial targets now and into the foreseeable future."