After an illustrious career, including a remarkable 22 years at Subaru Australia, David Rowley has announced his retirement.

Mr Rowley joined Subaru Australia in January 2000 and spent the next two decades championing the Subaru brand.

Throughout his tenure, Mr Rowley was responsible for launching an abundance of incredible Subaru models to the Australian market and developing a brand that is synonymous with families across Australia.

Amongst his many achievements, Mr Rowley also contributed to the successes of Subaru Australia's motorsport teams with six Australian Rally Championship wins with the late Possum Bourne, Cody Crocker and Australia's first female and, at the time, youngest champion Molly Taylor. 

The fact Mr Rowley is the longest serving Public Relations Manager in the automotive industry is of no surprise given his passion for and deep knowledge of the industry and the many long-standing relationships he has developed.

Prior to his time at Subaru Australia, Mr Rowley started his career as a journalist for the Yorkshire Evening Post and in 1988, ventured across the seas to settle in Australia.

He first worked as an aviation journalist, night chief of staff and reporter at The Australian. After two years, he joined QANTAS as a public affairs adviser, then senior media relations officer, before joining PR consultancy firm MACRO as an account manager.

Mr Rowley soon saw the light and moved to the automotive industry spending three years at Honda prior to joining the Subaru Blue Army.

Blair Read, General Manager Subaru Australia, said: "Dave has been instrumental in building the Subaru brand and cementing its reputation in the Australian market, including the successes in motorsport that the brand is still known for today.

"We are privileged to be able to continue on this journey with the strong foundations he has set in place and are eternally grateful for Dave's significant contribution over the past two decades.

"We wish him all the very best and many wonderful adventures in his retirement." 

David said: "As a relatively late entrant into automotive in my mid-30s, I was fortunate that the Subaru chiefs back in the day, Trevor Amery and Nick Senior, were prepared to take a risk on someone with so little industry experience.

"It's been a privilege to work with the Subaru Blue Army over so long and while the brand and product are fantastic, it's the spirit of the people working within the organisation that have fuelled my PR passion.

"Equally, I'm grateful to the many automotive media contacts whose interest in all things Subaru has kept me gainfully employed. The media landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with ever-increasing deadline demands - and multi-skilling across different platforms - making a hugely challenging environment.

"They have my admiration, as do my wonderful Subaru colleagues."

Dave's last day at Subaru Australia will be 27th August 2021.

We will have more to share regarding the on-going support of the Public Relations and Communications function soon.

Contact:
Chloe Fraser
chloe.fraser@inchcape.com.au
0466 434 192

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