Ashley Sanders

THE peak industry body representing Australia’s car industry, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), has restructured its secretariat

under chief executive Tony Weber and created a new committee that places a greater emphasis on current and emerging technology and communications.

Announcing the changes in Melbourne this week, FCAI president Horst von Sanden, who is also CEO and managing director of Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific, said the organisation was intent on holding its position as “the authoritative voice of the industry, representing the major impact of some of the world’s most powerful brands”.

“The critical issue is that the direction for the chamber is clear and going forward you will see this reflected in our current and future initiatives,” he said.

“We have just finalised a restructuring process which sees more resources going towards the important areas of technology, emerging technology and communications.”

This has seen the appointment of two new directors, both highly experienced industry executives in Ashley Sanders (ex-Mitsubishi), who joins as technology director, and Rob Langridge (ex-Toyota), who has signed on as director of emerging technologies.

Mr Sanders has built up some four decades of experience with Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited in regulation compliance and other areas, including product manager for electric vehicles, and in recent years has also served as the Australian representative on the Electrotechnology for Mobility strategic group of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), making recommendations for an IEC strategy covering the full gamut of automotive electrotechnics and electromobility.

Mr Sanders is also no stranger to the FCAI, serving on its technical committee for many years, while in the area of EVs, he was a key figure behind the introduction of Mitsubishi’s pioneering i-MiEV that arrived in 2010 and became available to the general public during the following year.

Rob Langridge

Mr Langridge served with Toyota for about two decades, from early 2001 to late 2017, and held a range of positions including overseeing Toyota’s national service division, corporate manager of technical service operations, manager of warranty and LM products, and export manager based in Bahrain, where he provided technical and engineering support across the Middle East for Toyota’s Australia’s export models.

In recent years, Mr Langridge has worked as an automotive industry consultant.

As part of the restructure, Lenore Fletcher becomes public affairs director. She was previously director of communications and emerging technologies but will now focus primarily on strategic direction, communication and awareness of emerging technologies.

A communications manager will also be appointed.

Leigh Obradovic remains policy director and Tony McDonald continues as director of industry operations.

Mr von Sanden said that in tandem with the new appointments, the FCAI board has approved the creation of a new emerging technologies committee, which will see the organisation “continue shaping policy and providing awareness of the automotive industry in Australia, with a particular focus on new technology”.

“Given that we are expecting more than 200 technologically innovative vehicles to be launched in the next 18 months, many of these with major advances in powertrain, connectivity and autonomy, we are confident that these resources will be put to good use,” he said.

“And you know, it’s not just the product. The expansion of the technology that we are seeing in the auto industry at the moment will not stay just in the automotive industry; we are really seeing automotive not just as a form of transport, but becoming more and more entwined with other areas of our lives.

“The interchange of technology between mobility, communications, energy and data platforms is increasing, especially with the rise of telematics, vehicle-to-everything and mobility as a service.”

By Terry Martin