South Australian-based Australian Motors Group (AMG) has appointed Shelley Blackwell as its chief executive. Ms Blackwell is the company’s first female chief executive and has come to AMG from her previous role as chief financial officer at AP Eagers’ South Australian Car Group. AMG has five sites with brands Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Isuzu Ute. Ms Blackwell said one of her top priorities was to invest in staff and encourage more women to work at dealerships.

Steve Wheeler has become a Mr Rental franchisee in Brisbane. The Mr Rental brand covers whitegoods, audio and electrical products for rent in Australia and New Zealand. He was for almost 21 years the state manager of MotorOne in Queensland, co-ordinating the core business for car-care departments in new vehicle dealerships and managing the Worldmark brands.

Tim McGrath has been appointed a director and general manager of Fusion Business Solutions/Op2ma based in Adelaide. The company is a major consultancy service to the automotive industry. Before working with Fusion, he was regional service manager for Hyundai Motor Company.

Nick Varnavelias has become a local property expert at Purplebricks Group, based in Wollongong. Purplebricks is a low-cost, customer-centric real estate selling concept that started in the UK in 2014 and entered Australia in September 2016. He was previously new-vehicle sales manager at Suttons City, Zetland.

Vieng Nguyen has been appointed Hyundai facilitation manager at Carlton Football Club. He was previously corporate fleet sales manager for Nissan, based in Melbourne.

Ricardo Saracoglu has been appointed senior finance business partner, vehicle profitability, at Toyota Motor Corporation. The role involves collaborating with business stakeholders to deliver financial and strategic objectives. Before working in vehicle profitability, he was a warranty and admin analyst at Toyota.