Aldred has been managing director of Vauxhall Motors since January 2010 and took on the chairman’s responsibilities in December 2011. In addition to these roles, he became acting vice president, sales, marketing and aftersales for Opel/Vauxhall in January 2013.

He joined Vauxhall as an undergraduate at its Ellesmere Port plant in 1990 and, with Vauxhall sponsorship, went on to graduate from Liverpool John Moores University with a BA (Hons) in 1992.  He subsequently worked in various positions in Vauxhall sales and marketing and was appointed retail sales director in 2004. In July 2006 he moved to Budapest as director, sales, marketing and aftersales for GM’s South East Europe region, transferring to Germany to take the role of sales operations director for GM Europe in 2009 before returning to the UK.

Vauxhall said Aldred’s successor would be announced later.