France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen has appointed a director general to oversee its UK business, positioned above the British brand managing directors Tim Zimmerman and Linda Jackson.

Marc Lechantre moves from PSA Group’s Paris commercial department to be based in the UK, dividing his time between Citroen UK’s Slough base and Peugeot UK’s Coventry headquarters.

The move is part of a restructuring of PSA’s businesses outside France, and brings the UK in line with management structures in other major European markets.

It will not mean a sharing of sales operations between Peugeot and Citroen, because PSA wants to keep the brands separate, and even differentiate them more.

However Peugeot Citroen UK is expected to look for savings from sharing non-brand specific functions unconnected to consumer value, such as logistics and administration.

The brands already share a joint parts service back office and joint training academy, and have worked together on purchasing for several years.