Broad skillset: Mr Bowler has a wide range of automotive industry experience that he will bring to his new role as managing director of AutoNexus.

EXPERIENCED motor industry executive Darren Bowler has joined Inchcape Australia as managing director of its AutoNexus logistics and supply chain services subsidiary, replacing Greg Parfitt who has left the company.

Mr Bowler has more than three decades’ experience at both a manufacturer and retail level with brands such as Audi, Hyundai, Tata Motors and, not least of all, Holden Special Vehicles (HSV), where he spent 13 years rising through the ranks of the Walkinshaw-owned business.

Most recently, Mr Bowler was serving as general manager (commercial) for PrixCar Services – a position he had held for the past 12 months after earlier working as regional manager (Victoria and Tasmania) for the automotive logistics provider.

In announcing the appointment this week, Inchcape Australia Limited (IAL) chief executive Nick Senior said: “Darren brings a tremendous range of automotive industry experience to AutoNexus, with the valuable ability to view things from both an IAL and customer perspective, which is essential on delivering on our customer-centric approach.”

Prior to joining PrixCar in early 2017, Mr Bowler was running his own consultancy, Dealer Marketing Services, which he established after leaving the Walkinshaw Group in November 2015.

As well as the many years’ experience with HSV – where he rose from southern region manager to national sales manager and general manager of sales and marketing – Mr Bowler was tapped to becoming the founding managing director of Walkinshaw’s Fusion Automotive business in 2013, which was set up to handle distribution of Tata Motors.

Earlier in his career, Mr Bowler worked for independent importer Astre Automotive as southern region manager of the Audi brand – when Astre took over distribution rights for Audi from Inchcape in the mid-to-late 1990s – and southern region aftersales manager for Hyundai, which was also part of the Astre stable at the time.

He also spent 12 years in retail, including two years as general sales manager for Doncaster Holden and 10 years with Watson Holden (both in Melbourne), starting with the latter as an apprentice mechanic and eventually becoming sales manager.

Mr Bowler will now relocate from Melbourne to Sydney (Greystanes) to oversee AutoNexus, which provides services across a broad range of disciplines including vehicle logistics, parts warehousing and distribution, fleet conversion and inventory management.

His predecessor, Greg Parfitt, was in the position for about 16 months, joining IAL after more than 25 years’ service in the Australian equipment hire business.

Mr Parfitt spent many years with Coates Hire – and National Hire, prior to its merger with Coates – in a variety of positions, including executive general manager in charge of sales and products and, earlier, the south-east and eastern regions.

IAL has advised that Mr Parfitt has left AutoNexus to take up a managing director role outside of the automotive industry.

By Terry Martin