Leadership Change As Motors.co.uk Connects With Autotrader.com

Cox Automotive today announced changes within the leadership team at the innovation-led car search business Motors.co.uk, increasing its connection to its parent company in the U.S. car classified giant Autotrader.com and appointing Phill Jones as its new Managing Director.

Motors.co.uk's current Managing Director, Andy Coulthurst is stepping down from his current role to take up a new role outside of Cox, as CEO of car supermarket group Trade Centre Wales. Andy will be leaving the Motors.co.uk business on 18th September 2015.

John Bailey, Executive Vice President, International of Cox Automotive commented: "I would like to thank Andy for his skill, vision and energy transforming Motors.co.uk over the last three years. Having run the business from an operational perspective as Commercial Director since 2010, Phill is the natural successor to Andy at this important stage of growth. I am certain that under his direction, the business will continue to thrive and build on the momentum that has been generated, maintaining its total focus on helping our dealers sell more cars."

Motors.co.uk has recently established closer connections with its parent company, Autotrader.com, and recently hosted a visit from President Jared Rowe and his team to their Oxford offices.

Phill explained: "Whilst we have always had strong connections with our U.S. parents, over recent months we have extended our interface with the team in Atlanta and are sharing ideas and best practice across many functions, including marketing, product, technology and sales. I am proud to lead the team as we plan new strategies to benefit our dealers and the millions of in-market car shoppers that engage with our product."

Jared Rowe, President of AutoTrader.com, added: "I'm delighted to be more involved in helping Phill and the team at Motors.co.uk build on their significant progress to date and share learnings between AutoTrader.com and Motors.co.uk. With the support of my team, Manheim and Cox Automotive, I'm confident that we will continue to make great strides, delivering compelling solutions to both dealers and consumers."

The Motors.co.uk site now lists over 300,000 used cars from thousands of independent and franchised dealers and through its powerful network can help dealers reach 3.9 million unique visitors per month. Phill commented: "I'm hugely excited by the prospect of leading Motors.co.uk. Our growth to date has been driven by product innovation, network partnerships and above the line marketing and has seen us deliver record levels of audience reach and response for our dealers. With new partnership opportunities, an extremely strong product roadmap and sustained support from our forward-thinking parents at Cox Automotive, we are perfectly positioned to grow our market share for the benefit of our dealers."

Ends.

For more information please contact St John White or Aimee Postle at Prova PR. Emailaimeep@provapr.co.uk or phone 01926 776900.

Notes to editors:

About Motors.co.uk

• Motors.co.uk is owned by Manheim and operates the UK's second largest car search response network for motor dealers
• The Manheim UK Group is part of Cox Automotive, the world's largest provider of automotive services to fleets, motor dealers, vehicle manufacturers and traders across cars, motorcycles, plant and commercial vehicles
• The Motors.co.uk Network has over 3.9 million monthly unique visitors and advertises more than 300,000 used cars for sale *(comScore May 2015)
• The Motors.co.uk Network includes high-quality automotive sites such as Carfused.com, Carmony, Honest John, Parkers.co.uk, Desperate Seller, Carsite Network, Sun Motors and The Sunday Times Driving, as well as the used car channels of over 300 local newspapers
• For further information, please visit media.motors.co.uk or contact pr@motors.co.uk