Nissan’s former head of sales and marketing for Europe, Jordi Vila, will return to the position, replacing Roel de Vries, who has left the company.
Vila, 57, held the post from June until December of last year after Ken Ramirez Nissan Europe left to join PSA Group.
Nissan said de Vries, who was promoted to the position in December “left for personal reasons.”
Vila was head of sales and marketing for Nissan in Asia and Oceania from April until the end of last month. He started his new job on August 1, Nissan said.
The Spanish-born executive has worked at Nissan for 31 years in a series of sales and marketing positions across the Europe region. He was promoted to managing director for Nissan in the Netherlands and Nordic markets before being made head of sales for Nissan Europe in 2017.
"We are delighted to welcome Jordi back to the European business. His knowledge and expertise will be a great asset to the company as he leads our teams into a new era of electrification,” Nissan Europe Chairman Gianluca de Ficchy said in a statement.
Nissan has seen its market share in Europe fall to 2.2 percent in the first half of 2020 from 3.9 percent in 2011, according to data from industry association ACEA. The brand has shifted strategy from chasing volume to focusing on more-profitable sales, de Ficchy told Automotive News Europe last year.
The company is replacing its aging lineup, starting with the freshly launched Juke small SUV and continuing in the next 12 months with the new Qashqai compact SUV and X-trail midsize SUV.
Nissan lost the equivalent of 139 million euros ($165 million) in the second quarter in Europe this year as sales plummeted by 60 percent because of COVID-19 lockdowns. Nissan includes Russia in its European region.
Nissan Europe’s sales and marketing position has now changed hands five times in the last four years.
Guillaume Cartier handed over the job to Philippe Saillard in March 2017 after he was made head of sales and marketing at Renault-Nissan alliance partner Mitsubishi. Saillard left in February 2018 to be replaced by Ramirez, who joined PSA Group in June 2019. Saillard is now head of automotive industry and mobility services at BNP Paribas Cardif.
