Mr Maciver spent only six months at SsangYong, which relaunched in December 2018 under a new factory operation after going into recess under previous independent distributor Ateco Automotive.

His departure follows that of SsangYong Motors Australia managing director Tim Smith, who left the South Korean brand in October after about 16 months in the top job, and communications and product planning manager Andrew Ellis, who moved on in the first half of last year.

SsangYong is yet to announce a replacement for Mr Smith or Mr Maciver.

As GoAuto has reported, Mr Maciver was one of three new appointments at SsangYong announced in July last year, with former Mitsubishi and Holden executive John Taylor replacing Mr Ellis as PR and product planning manager, and experienced marketer Steve Dimitrovski signing on as digital and brand manager.

At Haval/GWM, Mr Maciver replaces Bill Soo, who was head of marketing at the Chinese car-maker from the time Haval entered Australia in 2015 under a factory operation, initially reporting to Mr Smith who had served as chief marketing officer from Haval’s market launch until shifting to SsangYong in mid-2018.

During Mr Smith’s tenure at Haval, GWM was brought into the fold and relaunched after being handed over by Ateco, which in similar fashion to SsangYong was responsible for the brand in its early stages.

Mr Maciver brings some two decades’ experience to the position, including 13 with Mazda Australia and five with GM Holden.

Prior to joining SsangYong, Mr Maciver was Mazda’s Victorian state manager, responsible for all operations in the state including marketing, customer experience, dealer development, wholesale and retail sales, service and parts.

He was previously senior manager of digital and loyalty – a role he held for three-and-a-half years – and earlier spent almost six years as senior manager of public relations, about a year as a product analyst in the marketing department, and almost two years as Mazda’s learning and development manager.

Before joining Mazda in 2006, Mr Maciver worked as a service relations supervisor (training, quality and HR) for Holden, a position that saw him training customer service staff. He also spent three-and-a-half years as a national business representative for the lion brand.

Mr Soo, meanwhile, has begun his own consultancy, drawing on his experience from Haval/GWM and other companies including five years as general manager of business development for the national organisation representing Australia’s state motoring clubs (NRMA, RACV, RACQ, RAA, RAC, RACT).

Earlier in his career, Mr Soo had a two-year stint at Carsales as national dealer marketing and communications manager, and spent almost 13 years at Ford Australia working in a variety of positions such as customer experience manager, national marketing manager (aftersales) and dealer operations manager.

By Terry Martin