Two quit Land Rover in management shake-up

Land Rover, the BMW-owned car manufacturer, has parted company with two of its top executives in the latest Rover Group management shake-up.

Managing director Peter Kinnaird and marketing director Jim Campbell both left the Warwick-based company last week.

A Land Rover spokesman says the departures are due to management restructuring, and that both posts have already been filled from within the company. “People come and go. It’s business as normal,” he says.

The departures come at a time of upheaval at the Rover Group. Rover’s marketing director Martin Runnacles left in April, following the transfer of Tom Purves, Rover’s board level sales and marketing director and Runnacles’ boss, to the US.

In his place BMW brought in senior German executive Dieter Laxy to oversee marketing in the UK for the combined Rover and BMW brands.

It is believed Laxy decided to shuffle the senior positions at Land Rover following his appointment.

Colin Green, who was previously regional business manager with Land Rover, replaces Jim Campbell as marketing director.

Harry Riley takes up the post of managing director in place of Peter Kinnaird. He has been with the Rover Group for 17 years and his most recent position was finance director reporting to the md at Rover’s Solihull plant.