All change at group
East & South Toyota, formerly Manukau Toyota Group, has appointed Nadine Bell as chief executive officer. She succeeds Darren Smart, who led the group for the past seven-and-a-half years.
Bell, pictured, has stepped into the role after serving as chief operating officer of Manukau Toyota Group since January 2025.
Her appointment provides continuity at a significant point in the group’s development, and follows a career covering automotive retail, distribution, customer experience, sales, marketing and after-sales.
Bell is known for bringing people together, building capable teams and creating a workplace culture in which people feel valued, supported and accountable. Her practical leadership style, strong customer focus and ability to turn strategy into results will underpin the group’s next phase.
She says: “It is a privilege to lead East & South Toyota and a team with such deep knowledge, commitment and connection to our business, customers and communities.
“My focus is on giving our people the clarity, support and opportunities they need to succeed while continuing to build a strong, loyal workplace culture. When our teams are engaged and working together, we deliver a better experience for every customer.”
The appointment of Bell on October 1 coincided with the group’s name change from Manukau Toyota Group to East & South Toyota. The development has been in the pipeline for several months and evolves a longstanding legacy name into one that’s “future-focused and better reflects the region in which the group operates and the communities it serves”.
East & South Toyota operates four Auckland stores in Botany, Manukau, Papakura and Pukekohe. The new name brings those locations together under an identity that more clearly represents its footprint across the city’s east and south down to northern Waikato.
Bell began her automotive career with Honda New Zealand in 2000 when she was appointed to establish the first national multi-channel automotive contact centre.
Over some two decades with Honda, she progressed through senior roles spanning customer relationship management, dealer-sales development and training, national sales and marketing, brand and customer experience, parts and service.
Her tenure culminated in the role of general manager iof after-sales and customer with responsibility across national service and parts, CRM, training, contact centre operations and the after-sales performance of Honda-owned retail dealerships.
She then served as group general manager of Appliance Connexion, leading the group’s services and franchise support operation for its nationwide co-operative network before joining Armstrong’s in 2022 as chief marketing officer and her first introduction to the Toyota brand.
At Armstrong’s, she led CRM, marketing, ecommerce, contact centre operations and an after-sales CRM transformation project across its national, multi-franchised dealership group. From there, she joined Manukau Toyota Group as chief operating officer in January 2025.
