PRIME MOVERS & SHAKERS
NETWORK
FIRST Globally and locally the IVECO organisation is undergoing significant changes. In Australia, Ella Letiagina is a key member of the team driving the changes here.
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lla Letiagina came to Australia with her family from Russia four years ago following a successful career in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) nations, which commenced with the Volkswagen Group in Belarus where she held senior management positions involving product, supply chain and ultimately as Head of Sales. More recently, Ella worked in Moscow as Head of Network Development 64
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and Business Development for Volkswagen at Volkswagen Group Russia. “I was baptised by fire in my Head of Network position because 2014 was a difficult time in Russia as the market was hit by the Crimean annexation crisis,” she says. “New car sales declined by 1.5million vehicles over the next two years.” Following the move to Australia Ella joined Mitsubishi at its Adelaide Head Office, initially as Network Commercial
Manager. Late in 2020 she began searching for some further development in her career after spending 17 years involved with passenger vehicles. “I was looking for something different,” she recalls. “When this opportunity came up at IVECO as the Head of Network Development I thought maybe this can be a good change.” Ella’s key executive appointment was a move by IVECO to strengthen both its dealer network and the levels of customer satisfaction on offer. It was an exciting time to join the organisation with its revitalised medium duty Eurocargo, new heavy-duty X-Way line-up as well as the introduction of the new E6 Daily range in early 2021. “The automobile and truck industries follow similar business models, segments and profit centres including new vehicle sales, aftermarket sales, parts and service and also the end-of-life processes for the re-use and recycling of the parts,” Ella says. “In trucks, it’s a larger mission because they can bring all their innovation to market much faster, and the impact of these innovations on society and the environmental influence on the planet will be much larger. Don’t think that I underestimate the passenger
