BMW South Africa managing director Wolfgang Stadler has been appointed to head up the BMW Group's Dingolfing plant from January 2007. Stadler will be succeeded by Bodo Donauer, who currently heads the BMW Group's Central Personnel and Social Welfare units.

Volkswagen South Africa has announced the appointment of Nonkqubela Maliza to the position of director of corporate and government affairs.

Henk Maree has joined the Imperial Group's Commercial Vehicle Holdings (CVH) as chief executive. Maree is the former vice president of vehicle sales and dealer network at Toyota SA.

Fiat Auto South Africa has appointed Rogeirio Villaca as its marketing general manager. Villaca hails from Fiat Auto Brazil and will be based in South Africa for a minimum of two years.

At Honda SA, Graham Eagle has been promoted to general manager of sales and marketing responsible for all Honda products including motorcycles and power products. Other changes include the promotion of Gerrie Cronje and Tetsuya Nagatomo to general manager of business administration and customer service operations, respectively. Also promoted were Basil Forssman who has become the divisional manager of automobiles, Barrie Barnard, divisional manager of power products, Warren Olsen, divisional manager of dealer development, and John Laurence, who is now the divisional manager of marketing.

Ferose Oaten has been appointed president of the Retail Motor Industry (RMI). Oaten, the managing director of a group of Cape Town-based roadworthy testing stations, is the first woman to hold this position. She succeeds Brand Pretorius, current chairman of McCarthy Motor Holdings.

Peugeot SA sees the promotion of Eric Moll to aftersales general manager, while Jean de Villette was appointed as general manager for finance and administration.

Shuichi Suzuki has been appointed head of manufacturing operations at Nissan SA.

Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa's president and chief executive Robert Graziano has been appointed the executive vice president of Mazda Motor Corporation and vice president of Ford Motor Company, based in Hiroshima, Japan effective from September 1. Hal S Feder, Jr has been appointed as his replacement.

The Silverton-based manufacturer has also announced the appointment of Briton Andrew Daniel as managing director of Jaguar and Land Rover SA following Thomas Viehweg's appointment as the regional president of Volvo in Cologne, Germany from November 1. Daniel was formerly the Worldwide Sales and Supply Manager for Jaguar.

Ford Motor Company's Bill Ford has stepped down as chief executive of Ford Motor Company to make way for Alan Mullaly, the former head of Boeing's commercial division. Ford stays on as the company chairman, though.

Robert Ronchi replaces Karl-Heinz Kalbfell as the head of Maserati and Alfa Romeo within the Fiat Auto Group following Kalbfell's decision to "pursue other interests".

PSA Peugeot-Citroen has announced that its chairman, Jean-Martin Folz, will retire in January after turning 60. Folz has headed the group since October 1997.