EDMONTON, Jan. 13 /CNW/ - AutoCanada Inc. ("AutoCanada") (TSX:ACQ) today announced the appointments of Tom Orysiuk, CA as President, Steve Rose as Executive Vice-President Corporate Services and Jeff Christie, CA as Vice-President Finance.  Mr. Orysiuk was previously the Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer at AutoCanada and has been with the Company since November of 2005 and prior thereto held a number of senior executive roles.  Mr. Rose was previously the Vice-President Corporate Development, General Counsel and Secretary and has been with the Company since January of 2007 and prior thereto held a number of senior executive roles.  Mr. Christie was previously the Manager, Financial Reporting at AutoCanada and has been with the Company since August of 2008.  Both Mr. Orysiuk and Mr. Christie are Chartered Accountants and articled with Touche Ross & Company and KPMG LLP respectively.

"Tom Orysiuk is a talented and experienced executive with whom I have full confidence will rise to this new challenge.  Tom is a person of great value who is highly respected at AutoCanada and has been an active leader in our organization since we went public in 2006." stated Pat Priestner, Chief Executive Officer.  "Steve Rose has extensive legal, business and leadership experience that has proven to be very valuable to our team.  We are pleased to expand Steve's operational and leadership role in the organization.  We are also pleased to appoint Jeff Christie as Vice-President Finance.  The development of our own people is a policy we take very seriously and this appointment is an example of how we continue to grow our own people into leadership positions."

About AutoCanada

AutoCanada Inc. is one of Canada's largest multi-location automobile dealership groups, currently operating 23 franchised dealerships in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  In 2009, the franchised automotive dealerships sold approximately 23,000 vehicles and processed approximately 300,000 service and collision repair orders in our 331 service bays.

Additional information about AutoCanada Inc. is available at the Company's website at www.autocan.ca and www.sedar.com.