Prime move: Prixcar handles interstate car transport for a wide range of automotive brands, and now has Alex Milan at the wheel with Darren Bowler alongside as commercial general manager.

AUTOMOTIVE logistics provider Prixcar Services has overhauled its senior management team, appointing Alessandro ‘Alex’ Milan as chief executive and Darren Bowler as general manager (commercial).

Mr Milan replaces Frank Scarano – well known as Ford Australia’s vice-president of purchasing over more than three decades (1977 to 2007) – who has left the company “to pursue other interests” after almost four years in the top job, while Mr Bowler replaces Stuart Wilson, who moved to Prixcar in 2013 from leading component supplier Futuris Automotive, where he was executive general manager.

Mr Scarano previously served for almost three years as Prixcar’s general manager (commercial), having earlier spent three-and-a-half years as general manager at transport and integrated logistics firm Toll.

Toll PDI Investments (Australia) has a 50 per cent stake in Prixcar Services, while the other half of the company is owned by K-Line Auto Logistics, which combines the K-Line shipping operation and logistics specialist QUBE.

Mr Milan, meanwhile, spent almost a decade as manager of export and distribution for Toyota Australia from 1996 to 2005 before joining Patrick Autocare as divisional general manager, where he spent 10 years overseeing services for leading manufacturers, fleet operators and dealer networks.

During this time, he was also on the board of Car Compounds of Australia (CCA), a joint venture between Asciano and Mitsui OSK Lines – and in which Patrick has a 50 per cent stake.

Over the past two years, Mr Milan has served as chief executive of automotive collision repair firm Capital SMART Repairs, which is a joint venture with insurance provider Suncorp Group.

Darren Bowler

Mr Bowler also brings plenty of experience to the role, most notably the 15 years he spent with the Walkinshaw Automotive Group from 2000 to 2015, rising through the ranks at Holden Special Vehicles – from southern region manager to national sales manager and general manager of sales and marketing – before becoming managing director of Walkinshaw’s Fusion Automotive business in 2013, which was set up to handle distribution of Indian brand Tata Motors.

Mr Bowler resigned from the Fusion post in November 2015 and established his own consultancy Dealer Marketing Services, which he ran until joining Prixcar early this year as regional manager for Victoria and Tasmania.

Earlier in his career, Mr Bowler spent four years with Audi Australia as regional service manager and regional manager (both for the southern region), and 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.

At Prixcar, Mr Bowler replaces Stuart Wilson who had served in the role as commercial general manager for about 18 months after earlier spending around two years as divisional general manager in charge of vehicle processing.

Mr Wilson came to Prixcar in late 2013 from Futuris Automotive, where he spent five years as general manager/executive general manager after joining the company in 2007 as commercial manager (business integration) when Futuris purchased automotive parts supplier Plexicor Australia.

Up until then he had worked his way through the ranks of Plexicor over a 15-year-period, from supply chain manager to automotive business manager (sales and programs), operations manager and then commercial manager.

Asked about the circumstances surrounding the senior management moves, Mr Bowler told GoAuto this week that Mr Scarano’s contract was nearing completion “and he decided to move on to pursue other interests” while Mr Wilson resigned “to move into a role in the construction supply industry”.

By Terry Martin