Mercedes-Benz Australia appoints new sales chief

MERCEDES-BENZ Australia/Pacific has promoted Brad Kelly to the role of general manager of sales for its cars division, effective from April 1.

The experienced Mr Kelly replaces Richard Emery, who left in February to take up the reins as managing director and CEO of Nissan Australia.

Prior to his new appointment, Mr Kelly served as MB Australia/Pacific national manager of retail sales, a role he took up in 2011. Between 2008 and 2011, he was the national manager of corporate sales.

Before that, Mr Kelly worked for fleet management specialist LeasePlan.

Mr Kelly will be entrusted with keeping Mercedes-Benz sales on their strong upward trajectory in Australia in particular. In 2013, the brand’s passenger cars and SUVs outsold nemesis BMW here, growing 23.0 per cent largely on the back of strong sales at the lower end of its range.

In the first two months of 2014 sales are up a further 20.7 per cent, and with the new GLA crossover launching later this month, and an all-new C-Class due in July, the momentum shows little sign of abating.

Mr Kelly will report to the recently-promoted Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific CEO and managing director of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Horst von Sanden.

“We are very excited to appoint Brad to this role. Brad has been central to the implementation of our growth strategy with our Dealer partners and his move into this role will give increased focus on our growth in the years ahead,” said Mr von Sanden.

Mr von Sanden replaced president and CEO Juergen Sauer earlier this year, while retaining his responsibilities as managing director of Mercedes-Benz Cars in Australia and New Zealand.

The appointment of Mr Kelly comes about six weeks after Nissan Australia announced it had poached his predecessor Mr Emery to take over as its managing director and CEO, after former chief Bill Peffer returned home to the US and a job with Cadillac in September.

Mr Emery’s appointment was viewed as a surprise in some quarters, with many industry observers and people within Nissan having expected Peter Jones to continue in the role after becoming ‘interim’ managing director and CEO following Mr Peffer’s resignation.