The move sees Mr Allen take responsibility for both the Dealer Auction brand and the Passenger and Commercial Vehicle Dealer business within Manheim.

The company said Mr Allen’s new role comes after serving for approximately one year with Cox Automotive as head of Dealer Auction for Australia, which launched in Queensland late last year.

Mr Allen was previously head of Dealer Auction in the United Kingdom, having joined Cox Automotive after about a decade with the Sturgess Motor Group in Leicester, where for most of those years he served as general manager.

Cox Automotive Aust/NZ director of marketing and communications Matt McAuley said: “The merging of these two focus areas for the Inventory Solutions business allows us to offer both franchised and independent dealers a solution-based sales approach, to best suit their individual needs.

“We can offer them buying and selling options to support their business model via our more traditional channels at Manheim or the 100 per cent digital channels at Dealer Auction, or indeed a mixture of both,” he said.

“By aligning these functions under a central sales leadership model, we can better serve our customers and expand the capability and the reach of our dealer sales teams.”

Mr McAuley also said that under Mr Allen’s supervision, “Dealer Auction will continue its rollout across the rest of Australia over the coming months following the extremely successful launch in Queensland last year”.

By Terry Martin