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# Jebb McIntosh, co-founder and long-serving CEO of Combined Motor Holdings, has passed away at 80
- URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/jebb-mcintosh-co-founder-and-long-serving-ceo-of-combined-motor-holdings-has-passed-away-at-80/
- Published: 2026-11-06T02:54:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-06T02:53:59.000Z
- Description: McIntosh helped start CMH in 1976 and built it into a JSE-listed motor group worth around R2.4 billion, and no successor has been named yet.
- Author: Christian Maidman
- Tags: Companies, Business Bagel News

Jebb McIntosh, the co-founder and long-serving CEO of Combined Motor Holdings (CMH), has died at the age of 80\. He died on Monday, 2 November, and the Umhlanga-based group announced his death in a statement on the JSE. According to the announcement, McIntosh was having a typical day in the office, running the business, right up until he died.

## What McIntosh built at CMH

McIntosh helped start CMH in 1976, when several motor dealerships merged to form the group, with Maldwyn Zimmerman, who was its first CEO and stepped down as chair in 2013\. McIntosh served on the board from that year and, according to News24, was CEO from the time the group listed in 1987\. The company describes him as its longest-serving director.

Over the decades that followed, he built CMH into a JSE-listed motor group worth around R2.4 billion, with about 2,700 employees as of its financial year to February 2026\. It owns car dealerships in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape, selling brands from Jaguar, Toyota and Ford to Haval, Chery and Mahindra. It also owns First Car Rental, which runs a fleet of about 7,500 vehicles from more than 50 branches around the country. In its statement, the group called itself one of Durban's few successful JSE-listed companies.

The tributes made clear how closely the man and the business were tied together. "For those in the motor industry, McIntosh and CMH were synonymous," the group said, adding that his knowledge of the industry was "second to none". It also credited his business sense, his attention to detail and his ability to handle complexity, and said his guidance would be "sorely missed" by those who had worked with him. His family, the statement added, can be proud of what he achieved as a business icon.

## Who leads CMH next

The question now is who will take over after decades under McIntosh's leadership. CMH's announcement, as reported so far, does not name a successor. Whoever is chosen will be stepping into a role held by a man the group says dedicated his life to building the company, and will have to steer it through a changing motor industry.