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Harwoods has overhauled its management with the appointment of ex-Volvo Cars UK MD Jon Wakefield as CEO. Wakefield (left) replaces Archie Harwood (right) who is appointed to the new role of chief transformation officer.
The Harwood board has also been bolstered with the appointment of ex-Benfield CEO Mark Squires and corporate and banking specialist William Fall as non executive directors. The chairman of Harwoods is Guy Harwood, son of Wally Harwood who founded the business in 1931.
The move is part of a strategy to scale up the business and boost its multi-channel new and used car sales.
The latest figures from Companies House show Harwood turned in a strong performance in the year to December 2021 with pre-tax profits up 265% to £9.4m on turnover ahead 17.6% to £581.2m. Its brands include Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, Jaguar, Land Rover and McLaren.
Wakefield has over two decades of experience in automotive, working most recently for Volvo in Europe as VP Western Europe and before that as MD with Volvo Sweden and Volvo Cars UK.
He said “I am delighted to be joining Harwoods at this exciting time. The brand has an impressive set of core values which place its customers first and share many synergies with the brands I have previously worked for.
“I look forward to working side-by-side with Archie and the Harwoods team to continue its exciting transformation and help them grow and develop their brand in my new role.”
Harwood said: “Having been CEO for the past four years, I was at the helm of our major digital overhaul and my new role will allow me to remain focused on our new digital initiatives and their planned roll-out.
“Right now, we are working on a digital product set to revolutionise the automotive industry, and Jon’s appointment enables me to maintain my core focus on this as the group expands.
“I believe our collaborative approach will allow us to drive growth and improve effectiveness across Harwoods as we move into what is potentially going to be a challenging year ahead for the automotive industry.”
Squires is a heavy weight addition to the board. Winner of the Motor Trader Outstanding Achievement Award in 2014, he was CEO of family-owned Benfield before it was sold to Lookers in 2015 for £87.5m. He subsequently became chairman of the trade body NFDA.