10:00 am, October 27, 2008
LIBERTY Electric Cars is set to march into the automotive retail sales arena, with a new division headed by Roger Knight.
The former CEO of Marshall Motor Holdings is taking strategic lead of retail sales development, as part of Liberty’s £30 million investment in the re-engineering of large luxury cars and 4x4s.
The company turns them into high performance electric vehicles – including the world’s first zero-emission electric Range Rover. It has plans to sell many thousands – and plans to create 250 jobs.
Knight’s charged with using his experience of multi-franchise automotive retail operations, to lead innovations in how the vehicles are sold.
He said: ‘These are exciting and challenging times for the motor trade. As consumers increasingly move to non-polluting cars, they also drive change in conventional car retailing.
‘New technologies and changing consumer patterns mean new thinking is needed at the point of sale. Liberty Electric Cars is leading this change, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with them.’
Knight was a member of the DTI-sponsored Retail Motor Strategy Group – an industry/Government forum, with invited members drawn from vehicle manufacturers, retailers, trade bodies, consumer groups and DTI officials. He was also a member of the National Franchised Dealer Association Strategy Committee.
His record is impressive. He joined Marshall in 1989 and was MD and then CEO between 1995 and 2007. He grew the business to 42 branches with a turnover of £450m, winning a number of industry awards including Jaguar Dealership of the Year (2005, 2006, 2007), and top Land Rover Dealer Group for sales performance (2006, 2007).
