Kia South Africa today welcomes Paul Turnbull as CEO. The leadership change was announced by Osman Arbee, CEO of Motus Holdings, in April and comes into effect as of today as part of a broader set of leadership changes with the group. Turnbull joins Kia from Hyundai Automotive South Africa and succeeds Gary Scott, who held the position of CEO at Kia since 1 July 2017 and who has been appointed Chief Digital Officer of Motus Holdings.
A retailer to the core
Turnbull (51) was born and raised in Johannesburg, matriculating at Jeppe High School for Boys and attaining a Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude). He started his career in the automotive industry at the age of 22, joining Wheels of Africa – who held the distributorship for Hyundai in South Africa at the time – in 1995 as a sales coordinator. With a knack for retail, he moved into the role of sales executive by the end of the same year and into the role of Dealer Principal at Hyundai Nelspruit a mere two years later, become the company’s youngest DP in 1997 at the age of 25.
“One of Kia’s values is to keep things simple, which is a natural alignment with my own leadership style,” comments Turnbull. “We’re all blessed with the capacity to think, but we tend to over-analyse things and delay action. I thrive in making informed decisions and making them decisively. There’s no room for ego in our business, so I’m not scared of admitting when a mistake has been made and to reverse a decision if it’s needed.