A woman from the West Midlands is set to take the top job at Citroën after spearheading a turnaround in its 海角视频 fortunes.
Linda Jackson, who is currently the Coventry-based managing director of Citroën 海角视频 & Ireland, will take over as chief executive of the French car-maker from Fréderic Banzet on June 1.
The 55-year-old Warwick University graduate has 35 years of experience in a variety of financial and commercial roles in the automotive industry and has headed up the firm in the 海角视频 since 2010.
READ MORE: {}
Her appointment to the Paris-based role is part of a reshuffle at Citroën which will see the Citroën and DS brands become two separate entities.
Ms Jackson said she wanted to revive Citroën's reputation for innovative design and become more affordable.
"We want to be more creative, affordable and offer things that really matter to mainstream customers," she said.
"We want to be innovative in design - we've been good at that in the past and new models like the C4 Picasso have shown that again. It is in our DNA to innovate."
The upmarket DS range will be developed as a premium brand in its own right under the leadership of its new chief executive Yves Bonnefont, previously head of strategy.
Most Read
Between then Ms Jackson and Mr Bonnefont will be tasked with implementing the company's ‘Back in the Race' strategic plan for both Citroën and the DS brands.
The recovery plan has been masterminded by Carlos Tavares, the new boss of parent company PSA Peugeot Citroën.
Ms Jackson's appointment follows a sales surge over the past year in the region she oversees.
The firm reported a six per cent sales rise as it moved away from heavy discounting and concentrated on private buyers rather than the fleet market.
Citroën's 海角视频 sales soared to 78,358 units last year, the latest in a series of rises since she took over.
Ms Jackson will oversee the launch of Citroën's new C4 Cactus and C1, models she hailed as "the definition of what Citroën wants to be".
She added: "The C4 Cactus is the start of where we're going with Citroën. We want our cars to have useful technology like our touch screens that are easy to use and the air bumps on the C4 Cactus."
Don’t miss
Ms Jackson also pledged to introduce innovative new purchasing models.
She added: "Citroëns have to be comfortable, too, and affordable. We'll have some different solutions to help people buy their cars like pay-as-you-go and we'll be transparent in how we sell."
Ms Jackson said he felt being British would be a benefit in her new role, adding that having her "Anglo Saxon, British way of doing things" would be "a good thing in a diverse French company".
During its 95-year lifespan, Citroën has produced some of the world's most iconic cars in the shape of the DS and the 2CV.
Latterly PSA Peugeot Citroën has struggled due to the economic downturn and ever-increasing competition in the automotive industry, though it remains Europe's second largest car-maker.