Nissan is making some changes to its management team for North America as it continues to execute the North America Transformation Plan, working closely with dealer partners to improve quality of sales and profitability while revamping its product portfolio.
José Luis Valls, president and chairman of Nissan North America and executive vice president of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., has resigned and will leave the company for family and personal reasons effective June 15.
Jérémie Papin will oversee the region as vice chairman of Nissan North America, reporting to Christian Vandenhende, vice-chief performance officer and chief quality officer of Nissan Motor Co.
Papin, who currently serves as senior vice president, administration and finance, has taken a central role in the Nissan Transformation Plan, ensuring the company is on track to meet its financial goals. He joined Nissan North America in 2018 and formerly served as global finance director for Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and vice president, corporate strategy and business development of Groupe Renault.
Mike Colleran, Nissan corporate vice president, has been appointed senior vice president, marketing and sales of Nissan U.S., effective June 1. Colleran, currently global chairman of Infiniti Motor Co., will dually report to Papin and Vandenhende as a corporate officer.
Colleran joins the Nissan North America turnaround team, bringing a wealth of U.S. market expertise having previously served as group vice president of Infiniti Americas and in multiple Nissan North America sales roles. He replaces Airton Cousseau, who has been named vice-chairman of Nissan Latin America.
Nissan’s North America Transformation Plan includes revealing 10 new products over the next 20 months to refresh its U.S. vehicle lineup and accelerate efforts to deliver sustainable business performance.
In the South, Nissan has plants in Mississippi and Tennessee. The Nissan Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant in Mississippi employs 5,250 workers making approximately 450,000 vehicles annually including the Nissan Altima, Frontier, Murano, NV Cargo, NV Passenger, Titan and Titan XD vehicles.
In Tennessee, at the Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant, approximately 7,250 workers build 640,000 vehicles annually. Those vehicles include Nissan Altima, Maxima, Leaf, Pathfinder and Rogue and Infiniti QX60. At its plant in Decherd, it employs 1,700 workers making 1.4 million engines, 1.4 million crankshaft forgings and 456,000 cylinder block castings annually.
