Ex-Porsche Retail Group centre dealer principal Paul Westaway has been appointed as the head of Mana Premiere Automobiles (MPA), a new dealer group in the UK.

MPA, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Saleh Alhamad Al Mana Co in Qatar, has opened its first centre with Infiniti in Birmingham, which is the Japanese brand's third in the UK. MPA is Infiniti’s second dealer partner in the UK.

MPA will be opening a Glasgow Infiniti dealership in the next couple of weeks and has started construction on two more Infiniti dealerships in Stockport and Leeds with both due to open next year.

MPA is looking at adding further dealerships in south and east London, Cambridge, Bristol, Newcastle and Nottingham.
The MPA management team includes David Bourne, financial director, who joins MPA following 16 years’ automotive experience at the Midlands-based Rybrook Group, where he was group financial controller and IT manager.

Chris Codd, MPA’s sales manager joins from Pendragon as a finance and insurance development leader covering 25 retail dealerships throughout the UK.

Philip Green is MPA’s service manager, with more than 20 years’ experience of premium brands in the UK, USA and Middle East.

Donna Phelps is customer relations and marketing manager and previously worked as the manager of Sytner Group’s customer contact centre and most recently worked with Al Futtaim Group as its customer relations and marketing manager based in Dubai.

Al Mana UK’s Bill McMaster, who is charged with setting up MPA’s Infiniti centres in the UK, said: “It has been challenging to meet the stringent standards Infiniti demands because the centres are not just designed for selling cars but for providing unrivalled customer service.”

The arrival of the new showroom follows on from centres being opened by Rymco UK in Reading and London.