Brand appoints sales boss

Sean Tupp has been appointed national sales manager for GAC Motor New Zealand as the Chinese car brand makes moves to establish itself in the local market.

GAC Motor, also known as Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd, was incorporated in 1997 and by 2023 its production and sales both exceeded 2.5 million units.

It manufactures models under the GAC name and also operates two EV brands, Aion and Hyptec.

As part of the company’s global expansion, Erjin Bao was named GAC Motor NZ’s national manager in February this year.

Tupp joined him at the business this month after spending more than two years as national sales manager for GWM and Haval in New Zealand.

He has more than 25 years of experience in the automotive industry and worked as area sales and fleet manager for MG Motor New Zealand from January 2022 to March 2023.

Other past roles have included more than a decade with European Motor Distributors where he was general manager of Skoda New Zealand, Audi’s national sales manager, and sales manager for Volkswagen.

He spent five years as account manager at Ford Motor Company from 1999 to 2004 and was general manager of sales for Holden New Zealand between January 2015 and February 2018. 

Tupp has also had spells at Custom Fleet NZ and Value Tyres Ltd.