Vauxhall director Rory Harvey has been replaced by sales and marketing vice-president Stephen Norman in Britain.
The change comes after a 22% fall in Vauxhall sales last year and over 650 jobs announced to be cut at Ellesmere Port, which must put up a strong case to win new models and business development under the new owners, PSA Group, of France.
PSA boss Carlos Tavares will meet UK business minister Greg Clark on Wednesday to discuss future plans for Vauxhall in the UK, with its Ellesmere Port car plant and Luton van assembly operation.
The French company also has a Citroen, Peugeot and DS headquarters in Coventry. Industry watchers have suggested there could be moves in their situation with Vauxhall based in Luton, where the OnStar customers assistance system is also based, and some sort of merged office or backroom operations is likely.