Tod Evans, the chairman of Peugeot Citroen Automobiles UK, has announced his retirement.

He will step down at the end of the year after 23 years with the company. His replacement is Jon Goodman, marketing director at Peugeot UK.

Having served the maximum term of two years, Evans will also step down as president of the SMMT at the end of June, 2005.

“Whether I do any other work is up to me, I’ll consider it as and when the situation arises,” he says.

Evans considers taking Peugeot from eighth best selling brand to third in the UK the highlight of his career.

Having got the product specification right (making air conditioning standard in the medium sector was an early success) and built up a strong dealer network, Evans turned to bold advertising to create demand among consumers and make them proud of the brand.

“We became as famous for our advertising as we were for our cars. We transformed car advertising by using strong visuals, lifestyle settings and huge music.

Unlike other companies we showed the cars in use,” he says.

Examples include the ‘Takes your breath away’ ad for the Peugeot 405 and the ‘What have you done today to feel proud?’ campaign for the 406.

Peugeot still works with the agency Euro RSCG which created the two ad campaigns.