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Mike Whitfield, the Group Advisor for Strategy, Policy and External Affairs at Nissan South Africa, has been appointed the Managing Director of Stellantis South Africa, replacing Leslie Ramsoomar , who is leaving the company after almost four years. . His appointment came along with two others – Pravin Harinarayan as Sales Director and Hassan Salie as After Sales Director – who are also joining the Executive Committee of the company as new members.
Mike joins Stellantis from Nissan where he has spent his entire working life in various leadership positions and continents. Most recently, Mike was the Group Advisor for Strategy, Policy and External Affairs, after a number of years as Managing Director of Nissan Africa. Mike has played a major role in the leadership of the South African automotive industry and the development of a Pan-African automotive industry through both the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) and the African Association of automotive Manufacturers (AAAM). He is a past president of Naamsa and is currently in his second term as president of the AAAM.
Pravin Harinarayan has also been appointed the Sales Director
Pravin joins from MAN Truck and Bus South Africa where he was the Head of Sales operations since 2017. Prior to Man, he worked in various positions at Volvo South Africa such as Sales & Dealer Network Director and Chief Financial Officer. Pravin has a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of PTA (SA).
Also, Hassan Salie is appointed After Sales Director.
Hassan joins from Audi Africa where he was the Head of Sales and Network Development since 2020. Prior to Audi he worked in various positions in Volkswagen South Africa such as Head of Aftersales and Head of Network Development. Hassan has Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Management College of SA.
“We would like to express our sincere thanks to Leslie Ramsoomar for his nearly four years tenure as Managing Director of Stellantis South Africa where he set up the operation after merger, and the most recent conclusion of the manufacturing project. We wish him well in all his future endeavours,” the company said in an official statement, Friday, announcing the organisational changes.
“South Africa is an important market for Stellantis Middle East & Africa and is set to play a critical role in the execution of our Dare Forward 2030 Strategy to reach over 22% Market Share in the region by 2030 with 70% regional localisation of its sales leading to over 1 million units produced.
“We believe in South Africa and we intend to develop industrially and commercially bringing value to our customers and have recently announced a ZAR 3 billion investment to establish a State-of-the-Art Automotive Plant in Coega.”
