Australian shuffle: Audi Australia’s newest managing director will be Paul Sansom, who will succeed Andrew Doyle in the role.

AUDI Australia has named a new incoming managing director – head of the German brand in South Africa, Paul Sansom – to replace Andrew Doyle, with his intended successor, Irishman Cian O’Brien, diverted to a still-to-be-confirmed new position “within the global organisation”.

In announcing Mr Sansom’s appointment today, which takes effect shortly after his Australian visa is approved, Audi Australia confirmed that Mr O’Brien, who is currently acting as head of Audi UK, “has been asked by Audi AG Management to take up another role within the global organisation”.

Mr O’Brien was announced as Audi Australia’s incoming managing director last October, in a move that would have seen him effectively trading positions with Mr Doyle, who is still heading to the UK next month to take charge of Audi’s operations there.

Bringing almost 16 years’ automotive industry experience to the table, Mr Sansom started his career at Jaguar UK in 2001 as a national fleet sales manager before joining Volkswagen Group UK two years later.

Mr Sansom moved to Audi UK as national sales manager in 2006. He was promoted in 2009 to director of aftersales and customer service, and again in 2012 to director of sales – overseeing Audi UK’s rise to the top premium brand in the market.

Mr Sansom then headed Audi South Africa in mid-2014 and under his watch the brand has reportedly reached the number-one spot in the market for both sales and customer satisfaction.

By Tung Nguyen