Porsche Cars GB has appointed a new marketing and ownership general managers.

Ragnar Schulte joins Porsche as general manager for marketing, with responsibility for overseeing the marketing, product and overall brand strategy for Porsche in the UK and Ireland.

Other key responsibilities include supervision of the Porsche Cars GB Motorsports activities as well as the management of the Porsche Experience Centre (PEC) at Silverstone.

Schulte joins with 13 years of automotive experience and was most recently marketing and business development director for Porsche Russia.

Graham Lightfoot has taken up the position of general manager for ownership. The role encompasses responsibility for the overall ownership strategy for Porsche in the UK and Ireland, and also covers the areas of parts and distribution, technical and warranty.

Lightfoot joins Porsche from Hyundai Motor UK, where he held the position of aftersales director for 11 years, and was a member of the executive board.

Prior to this, he worked for Volkswagen Group UK as head of sales and marketing, group services, and head of customer services for the Volkswagen brand, as well as for BMW in aftersales marketing and regional management positions.

There are 34 Porsche dealerships in the UK and Ireland, the newest being Portsmouth in the south of England which opened in the summer.

Up to September 2012, Porsche has recorded a 30% sales increase year-on-year in the UK driven by the success of the new 911 and Boxster, and strong demand for the four-wheel drive Cayenne and Panamera Gran Turismo.

Later this year will see the introduction of the all-wheel drive 911 Carrera 4 and 4S, and the expansion of the Cayenne family with the S Diesel powered by a 382 hp V8 engine.

The German sports car specialist will also look to introduce its 918 plug-in hybrid sports car next year.