Inchcape Australasia has appointed Blair Read as its new managing director effective April 1, 2025.
He will continue to drive growth and continued success in Australia and New Zealand across its portfolio of distribution, retail, fulfilment and financial services, including its brand representation for Subaru, Peugeot, LDV, KGM, Deepal (Changan Auto) and Foton.
Read has extensive automotive experience. He started his career at Inchcape in 2004 and quickly rose through the ranks with key appointments across sales, after-sales, marketing, and business development, before being appointed as managing director of Subaru Australia in December 2021.
He has been instrumental in pivoting the Australian business into multi-brand and multi-category distribution operations, deepening existing and new OEM partnerships (Deepal and Foton) to power better mobility in the market.
Read also implemented the centre of excellence for OEM Product management and fleet portfolio sales, and developed the dealer network for multi-brand growth strategy.
“We are experiencing exciting growth in the Australasian business, and I am thrilled to be at the helm, driving sustainable growth for our OEMs and delivering exceptional experiences for our customers across Australia and New Zealand with our fantastic team,” Read says.
Before Inchcape, Read also worked with brands such as Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Porsche and SEAT.
The current Inchcape Australasia managing director, Colin Christie, has been appointed to the role of Strategy and Transformation regional director, Inchcape APAC from April 1.
In this new role, he will drive the delivery of Inchcape’s Accelerate+ strategy across the Asia-Pacific region to scale and optimise the businesses through distribution excellence and delivering superior value-added services.
“I’m excited to step into my new capacity to drive the Inchcape Accelerate+ strategy across the Asia-Pacific region, delivering sustainable growth and truly living up to our purpose of powering better mobility. I would like to personally thank my colleagues, our partners and our community for the support that you have given to me and my team over the past years,” Christie says
Join the conversation