Nissan India Announces Shuffle In Top Management

Nissan Motor India has announced important changes with the senior management. The Japanese auto major said that its current Managing Director Arun Malhotra has been assigned the role of corporate advisor, and replacing him will be Jerome Saigot, currently Vice President, Marketing and Datsun Business Unit, Nissan India. Saigot will now be responsible for sales and marketing for both Nissan and Datsun brands. Malhotra will now report to Peyman Kargar, Chairman of Nissan's Africa, Middle East and India (AMI) region and interim president of Nissan India Operations.

Commenting on the management changes, Peyman Kargar said, "Nissan has invested substantially in our manufacturing and R&D facilities, and in our dealer network, in India. We expect these appointments will bring the right balance of experience and new thinking to accelerate our momentum as we strive to achieve our ambitions for the Indian market."

Arun Malhotra joined Nissan from Mahindra in 2014 and launched a host of models in the country including the GT-R, Datsun redi-GO and more recently the Nissan Connect telematics app. In his new role, Malhotra will extend his experience in the Indian automotive market to support the delivery of Nissan India's future growth goals and network development plans, the company said in a statement. Both Malhotra and Saigot will also report to Thomas Kuehl, incoming President of Nissan India Operations.

India's fourth largest exporter of passenger vehicles, Nissan India has invested over Rs. 6100 crore in the country towards the manufacturing plant in Chennai, as well as the R&D centre. The company sells a host of products ranging from the entry-level redi-GO, GO and GO+ under the Datsun brand, going up to the Micra, Sunny, Terrano and the flagship GT-R under the Nissan brand. The shuffle in the top management is expected to help the automaker accelerate its growth plan for India.

In addition, Peter Clissold, who is currently General Manager, Marketing, Asia, Middle East and India region, will take up the role of Vice President, Marketing at Nissan India. Clissold will be based at the automaker's office in Gurugram and will report to Jerome Saigot. All the changes in the management will come into effect from October 1 2017.