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NEWS
Batey to head Chevrolet around the world
Former Holden MD takes on the top job with the bowtie brandAlan Batey has been appointed global head of Chevrolet, Automotive News has reported.
The British ex-pat, who first joined GM through Vauxhall in 1979, spent close to five years at Holden as the director of sales and marketing, and subsequently managing director. He was on deck for the launch of the VE Commodore in 2006.
After Mark Reuss left the role of managing director at Holden to return to Detroit, Batey slipped into the vacant position, but was only there for around six months before Reuss recruited him to take on the role of VP for sales at Chevrolet in the US.
According to the article in Automotive News, Batey is "a trusted lieutenant" to not only Reuss, but also General Motors CEO, Dan Akerson. But dealers in the US have been more circumspect, some acknowledging that his intervention has helped lift the Chevy brand off the floor in the years since GM emerged from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Others have allegedly found Batey to be dismissive and tough however.
His rise to the new role coincides with the departure of 27-year GM veteran, Susan Docherty, president and MD of Chevrolet and Cadillac in Europe. Docherty is jumping ship on the grounds of spending more time with her family as Chevrolet endures market volatility in Europe. The famous brand saw sales rise around the world by five per cent last month, and has posted 10 successive quarters of global sales records. But in Europe Chevrolet sales have fallen by 31 per cent for the year to date.
Chevrolet's sales decline in Europe is sure to be near the top of Batey's 'to-do' list in the new job.
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