Sansom appointed as new head of Audi SA

Paul Sansom, head of Audi South Africa

Sansom joined the automotive industry in the United Kingdom in 1990. He then moved to the Volkswagen Group UK in 2003, and in 2007 to Audi UK as national sales manager. This was followed by a successful tenure as director of after sales and customer service in 2009. Since 2012, he has held the position of director of sales of Audi UK, in which time the brand achieved the number one position in the UK premium market across all sales channels, with record market share and record levels of customer satisfaction.

Searle began his career in 1994 at the Barloworld Motor Group and held various positions in the Audi and Volkswagen retail environments in Cape Town. He then joined the Volkswagen Group of South Africa in 2002 as Audi national sales manager, and in 2005 moved on to marketing manager for the Volkswagen brand. He was then appointed as the head of Audi South Africa in 2008, and will now assume his new position as managing director of Audi Taiwan in August 2014.

Audi South Africa has experienced substantial growth under Searle's leadership, with the brand more than doubling its sales volumes and significantly increasing its share of the premium market in the past five years. Audi has also been recognised as the number one brand in customer satisfaction for the past three years as voted for by IPSOS.