Daimler Truck and Bus has annouced a major shake-up in its management team at Clayton with the news that Richard Eyre will move out of the role of general manager of Fuso to a new position entitled general manager of strategic partners and business development in Australia and also regionally for Trucks Asia.
The changes have been made by managing director of Daimler Truck and Bus Australia, Daniel Whitehead and become effective from the 1st November.
Eyre, who has been in the GM role at Fuso for almost 15 years, will be replaced by Justin Whitford who has been in the role of the GM of Mercedes Benz Truck and Bus.
When truckandbus.net.au spoke with Daniel Whitehead he made it clear that the management changes, specifically the move by Richard Eyre were about maximising management effectiveness and in freeing Eyre to do what he does best and that is to sell trucks.
“Richard is the best truck sales man in the country,” said Daniel Whitehead. “This move will allow Richard to concentrate on selling trucks and taking to customers without the burden of having to run Fuso,” he said. “We will share Richard with Fuso in Tokyo and he will spend half his time in Australia and half his time working in Asia, selling and mentoring,” he added.
Importantly Justin Whitford’s move to Fuso will not see the brand move its office from Liverpool in Sydney to the Daimler HQ in Clayton however Whitford will not move to Sydney and will remain based at Clayton.
“I believer in having my management team close to me and in reality Richard Eyre spent a huge amount of time on the road so not a lot will change in that regard,” said Daniel Whitehead. “We have a great team at Fuso and moving it to Melbourne doesn’t make sense,” he added.
Whitehead sang the praises of Justin Whitford saying he has impressed him with his performance in running Mercedes Benz truck and bus.
“Justin is a real asset to this business and he will take his experience with Mercedes to Fuso,” he said.
Whitford’s place as GM of Mercedes Benz truck and bus will be taken by Michael May who comes out of one of Daimler’s retail operations.
“Michael May is also a really impressive guy, he has run one of our Select dealerships and also has engineering and product expertise that will be invaluable in his new role,” said Whitehead. A replacement for May’s current role is yet to be announced.
