General Motors Names Spangenberg MD Africa – THISDAY Live

General Motors

General Motors has announced that it is consolidating its sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa operations into a new unit, GM Africa, effective immediately.

To this end, Mario Spangenberg, currently president and managing director of GM North Africa, will become president and managing director of GM Africa. He will be based at GM Africa’s headquarters in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. With this consolidation, Tarek Atta will become managing director of GM Egypt and North Africa, reporting to Spangenberg.

Edgar Lourençon, who has served as managing director of GM South Africa and president of GM sub-Saharan Africa since November 2009, will assist in the transition and repatriate to South America later this year. He will report to Mark Barnes, GM International Operations vice president, Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, and chief country operations officer, Africa and Australia.

Spangenberg has been in his present position since July 1, 2011. He earlier held key posts in other parts of the world, including director of Sales Operations for GM de Mexico, managing director of International Sales for GM Daewoo Auto & Technology in South Korea, and director of Marketing for Adam Opel AG in Germany. He began his industry career in 1980 at Volkswagen.

GM does business in more than 50 markets in Africa, and has manufacturing operations in South Africa, Egypt and Kenya. In 2012, GM sold 180,493 vehicles in Africa, an increase of 17.5 per cent from the previous year.