Most influential UK car industry figure

[James Baggott 227]

Who do you think is the person with the most influence over the UK car industry. I'm not talking politicians, and I'm not talking journalists, I'm after the person you think has the biggest say or can make the most difference to the UK car business.

 

Think car manufacturer bosses, dealer principals - what I'm after is a person. The person we think has the most influence.

 

Is it Mark Ovenden, boss of Ford in the UK? Or Mike Hawes, the SMMT chief executive? Or is it Trevor Finn, boss of the biggest dealer group in the UK, Pendragon?

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[umesh 336]

Trevor Finn -always comes to my mind -but is he or isn't he is the real question?

[Jamie Edmonds 28]

Surely it has to be Mark Carney, or someone at Santander/Black Horse/VWFS if you take 'influential' as meaning someone whose actions directly make a difference to the industry as a whole.  Without cheap finance we would all be working in a very different business indeed.

[williamblackshaw 43]

Clarkson! Joking, on a serious note, I think its difficult to select anyone, as we are all from all over, it's hard to meet everyone or learn about others, like who knows what changes the latest Subaru MD is making for example? its the people within your network or area that you should admire, which people made you sit up and look at what they have done, the people I admire are Robin Luscombe of Luscombe Leeds, a man who put his money where his mouth was and has had incredible results, and also the guy from WLMG, never met him, but his videos and the way he conducts himself are cool, also Peter Vardy, again never met him, but what he has done in such a small space of time is excellent and again the likes of his videos, makes it look fun a fun place to deal or work.

[James Baggott 227]

Thanks for your thoughts chaps. I know it's a hard one but as we invite a select band to our annual photoshops of 'Automotive Influencers' I often wonder who we really MUST have there.

We've got an incredible line up in place but wondering if there's anyone I've missed. Finance is an interesting one Jamie - one I'll consider.

[Motoringcouk 0]

Ref Manufacturers and being influential within your own business and demonstrating positive results in a very tough few years with year on uplift in registrations...Tony Whitehorn of Hyundai who has been there since 2005 has instilled consistency within his team and strategy both offline and online, and Dealers value him and respect him. That for me is incredibly influential and proves that senior management retention and delivering a clear and defined strategy over tough times works.

[Motoringcouk 0]

I think sometimes unsung heroes and not the usual suspects of being so called influential can go unnoticed ! If you take a group like HR Owen who were in quite a bit of trouble some years ago then someone like Joe Doyle had to take major credit for their turnaround.

HR Owen are a luxury/super car group who had relied on old fashioned methods and historical customers to sell cars. when the financial world fell of a cliff things changed for them dramatically. Joe Doyle came in with a vision and strategy and turned an old fuddy dude group into a profitable and healthy brand through employing forward thinking people and integrating a new digital infrastructure and strategy. To do what they have done in such a short time and recently being acquired is incredible in such short years.

[umesh 336]

the problem is we always hear of all the famous names who like publicity but so, so many do an amazing job that if we tripped across them or their name we wouldn't know of them! Look forward to seeing new name/ faces that have done so much but not been in the limelight !