Motor Trader The award-winning and longest running UK magazine for car retailing professionals. Your first stop for News, Jobs and Reports for the motor industry.
Mark Raban, the former CEO of Lookers, has been appointed as the new CEO of Group 1 in the UK. The appointment was confirmed by Mark Raban with Motor Trader this morning.
Raban was the winner of the Motor Trader Outstanding Achievement Award in 2023 for his tenure at Lookers, hauling the company back from big losses to significant profitability. He was profiled in Motor Trader earlier that year.
Lookers was sold to Global Auto Holdings, a sister company of Alpha Auto Group, for £465.4m in 2023. Shortly afterwards Raban left the company.
Raban will take responsibility for a business which doubled in size this month with the acquisition of Inchcape’s 54 UK dealership.
These dealerships are expected to generate $2.7bn (£2.1bn) in annual revenues, bringing 2024 year-to-date total revenues for Group 1 to $3.8bn.
He will head up a company shooting up the Motor Trader Top 200 Dealer Groups by turnover into a top 3 position. Prior to the acquisition it was ranked 7 with annual turnover of £2.24bn.
With the acquisition of IR’s 54 dealerships, Group 1 has expanded its footprint to key hubs such as the Midlands, the North West of England and Wales, enabling the company to reach new customers, as well as expand its brand offering in the U.K.
The portfolio includes Audi, BMW/MINI, Jaguar Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz/smart, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.