GARY Savage is to retire from Mercedes-Benz Cars in the UK. He will be replaced by Olivier Reppert from 01 March 2024 before bowing out altogether on 30 June 2024.
Savage (pictured above) introduced the agency model to the business – which excluded the leasing broker channel – from the beginning of the year.
However, it has been met with mixed results. Mercedes has lost market share, and resorted to discounting, pre-registrations and using funders and leasing brokers to shift vehicles towards the end of the year.
Midway through the year, head of fleet Tom Brennan left the business. He has now been appointed country manager UK for National Vehicle Distribution.
Gary Savage joined Mercedes from Citroen UK in July 2010 where he was MD, and moved to his current role of CEO and Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Cars UK in January 2014.
Under Gary’s leadership Mercedes-Benz in the UK has gone from strength to strength over the past 14 years. Gary’s insightful, collaborative approach, partnering with our network, along with his positive leadership of the UK team, enabled us to successfully launch Agency (Model D) in the UK in January 2023.
On a personal note, I have always valued the different perspectives that Gary brings to the business. I would like to thank him for his tireless efforts, outstanding contribution and excellent results and wish him a very happy and healthy retirement.
Gary’s successor is Olivier Reppert (pictured right), who began his career at DaimlerChrysler as an after sales product manager in 1998 before moving to DC Overseas in Stuttgart to be manager for after sales marketing. From 2004 to 2008 he directed the dealer network development at MB Schweiz AG.
Returning to Stuttgart, he became responsible for leading the MB regional strategy for China and Russia as part of the Global Business Management and in 2010 he joined the sales department at smart and assumed the leadership for smart Germany in 2013. In November 2014, Olivier was promoted to global head of brand, product management & sales at smart.
From October 2016 he served as the CEO of car sharing business car2go before becoming CEO of Share Now which had taken over car2go. Since February 2019 he has been the CEO of Free2Move’s SHARE NOW, formed from the amalgamation of car2go and DriveNow.
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Ralph Morton is the leading journalist in the leasing broker sector and editor of Broker News, the website which provides information and news for BVRLA-registered leasing brokers. He also writes extensively on the fleet and leasing market in both the UK and Europe.
