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Key among the changes is the expansion of the general manager team across its five successful Nissan dealerships in Scotland.
There are now four GMs in place: David Aitken at Western Edinburgh (Newbridge); Drew Guthrie at Barnetts Dundee and Western Fife; Neil Johnson at Western Edinburgh (Straiton); and James McFarlane at Western Stirling.
In taking charge at Newbridge, David Aitken – formerly Sales Manager at Straiton – follows in the footsteps of Andrew Oag, who is now Nissan Franchise Director for the whole of Eastern Western.
Before the restructure, Drew Guthrie and Neil Johnson looked after two sites each. Drew will continue to head up Dundee and Fife but Neil will move away from his duties in Stirling to focus solely on Straiton, where business levels have been significantly increasing.
James McFarlane moves from his role as Service Manager at Newbridge to become Neil’s Stirling replacement.
Meanwhile, Neil Burgess will continue as General Manager of aftersales operations across Eastern Western’s Nissan and Mazda dealerships.
Announcing the changes to staff, Andrew Oag thanked his ‘fantastic’ Nissan dealer colleagues for their support during the first year in his new role as Nissan Franchise Director, in which he replaced John La Trobe, who joined the Board of Directors last year.
Andrew continued: ‘‘Please join me in wishing our four general managers the very best of luck for the future, and congratulating James and David on their well-deserved promotions within the company.
‘‘I know you will all embrace these senior management changes which are being made to improve our businesses, build resilience and strengthen our performance during 2024 and beyond.’’
The changes to Eastern Western’s Nissan general manager line-up are part of a wider restructure of personnel across the division.
Paul Lovett becomes Used Car Sales Manager at Newbridge to work alongside Cezar Skrzypinski, who will focus on new cars moving forward.
Brent Fraser takes over as Sales Manager in Fife.
George Ross, a long-established manager at another respected dealer group, joins Eastern Western to become General Sales Manager at Dundee. He has worked with Nissan for many years and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the company.
Angus Gillon, currently Sales Controller at Newbridge, will become Van Centre Sales Controller for Eastern Western’s Nissan division. Working between Newbridge and Straiton, Angus will be selling to customers as well as acting as the main point of contact for all sites regarding vans.
Louise Morris, formerly Service Manager at Fife, recently moved to the Stirling dealership. Rebecca McCleave, Senior Service Advisor at Fife, has won promotion and will take Louise’s place. A qualified technician and experienced member of the team, Rebecca is looking forward to the challenge.
Andrew Oag added: ‘‘I am very excited about the year ahead – these role changes will help our already-successful Nissan dealerships hit new heights in 2024. As I say, I wish everyone involved all the very best and we can look forward to a bright future together.’’
Eastern Western’s state-of-the-art Nissan showrooms provide first-class sales and servicing facilities for customers across the Lothians, the Central Region, Fife and Tayside.
Nissan ended 2023 on a high with three of the key models in its range winning coveted accolades.
Qashqai and X-Trail were highly commended in the Carwow Awards while Juke was named Best Small Used Car at the Car Dealer Magazine Used Car Awards.
Both Qashqai and Juke featured in the top 10 best-selling cars of 2023, in second and eighth place respectively.
Pictured: Neil Johnson (General Manager, Straiton), Neil Burgess (Aftersales General Manager), David Aitken (General Manager, Edinburgh), Drew Guthrie (General Manager, Fife and Dundee), James McFarlane (General Manager, Stirling), Andrew Oag (Franchise Director)
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