Renault SA: Lynch named managing director

Renault South Africa has appointed Niall Lynch as managing director. The only son of the late former Imperial Holdings chief executive, Bill Lynch, succeeds Susumu Uchikoshi, who will take an as yet undisclosed senior position at Nissan, Renault’s alliance partner, following a global management restructuring. Lynch was previously franchise director of Renault SA’s retail operations from June 2003 to December 2007. He then became a franchise director at Imperial and the investor relations and strategy director for Eqstra, the listed leasing and capital equipment group. Lynch said Renault SA had achieved steep growth last year and this would continue thanks to its strong product plan, which he declined to comment on. Renault SA posted growth of 18.5 percent in passenger car sales last year compared with the industry’s volume growth of 1.8 percent. – Roy Cokayne