• FOLLOWING the death of Pierre Peugeot on December 1, 2002, the supervisory board of Peugeot SA has elected Thierry Peugeot as its new chairman. Jean-Philippe Peugeot becomes vice- chairman to serve alongside Jean Boillot. Previously, Thierry Peugeot was vice-president, services and spare parts, for the Citroen brand and was a member of the PSA Peugeot-Citroen executive committee.

  • HERTZ UK has appointed Julie Richardson as regional account manager for the Midlands area. She reports to the company's field sales manager, Laura Moran, and was previously with CBF Group as telesales manager and, before that, worked at Kalamazoo Security Print.

  • NATALIE Wakefield takes over as head of the MINI PR team following an update by BMW to its corporate communications department. She replaces Mark Harrison, who becomes corporate communications manager at BMW. Duncan Forrester takes over Wakefield's role as media relations manager. He has been with the company for eight years, most recently as internal communications manager.

  • DR Ulrich Eichhorn has been appointed by Bentley Motors as the new member of the board for engineering. He reports to chairman and chief executive, Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen. Eichhorn takes over from Hans-Joachim Rothenpieler on March 1, when Rothenpieler moves to another role within the Volkswagen Group. Eichhorn was previously with Volkswagen as head of research and, prior to that, he was with Ford for seven years working in the UK, US and Germany.

  • COURLAND has launched an interim management company. The aim of the new division is to fulfil the requirement for high-level management skills on relatively short-term projects in the fleet management section. Courland specialises in the search for senior personnel exclusively within the automotive industry.

  • ANDY Johnson has been appointed national account manager for corporate accounts with Hertz. He reports directly to head of corporate sales, Paul Green, and takes responsibility for existing corporate accounts and the development of major new clients. Johnson was previously an account manager at Sealed Air Corporation.

  • DR Anton Heiss replaces Dr Herbert Diess as managing director of BMW Group Plant Oxford on February 1. Heiss has been with BMW since 1988, most recently as head of product and investment controlling. Diess, who has managed the Oxford plant since May 2000, moves to a new position as head of BMW Group's motorcycle division in Munich.