Yokohama, Japan — January 2 2018 — With the new year comes executive appointment shake-up at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Going into effect throughout January, the company says these changes are to “strengthen the management structure.”
Effective January 1, Hideyuki Sakamoto will moving up from his previous position of executive vice president, product engineering—a position he has held since 2014—to be Nissan’s executive vice president, manufacturing. Sakamoto has been with Nissan since 1980, and has served a number of roles, including corporate vice president, Nissan PV Product Development Division No. 1; corporate vice president, Alliance common platform and components; senior vice president, production engineering; and multiple chief vehicle engineer positions. Sakamoto will continue to report to Chief Competitive Officer Yasuhiro Yamauchi. Yamauchi will lead product engineering operations until the end of the fiscal year.
As of January 6, Denis Le Vot will be the new senior vice president and chairman of the management committee for Nissan North America. Le Vot was previously the senior vice president and chairman of the Eurasia region for Groupe Renault. Since joining Renault in 1990, Le Vot has been held multiple positions in aftersales and served as new cars marketing and sales director in Turkey; vice president, marketing and sales for the Eurasia region; chief operating officer of Renault Russia; and vice president, sales and marketing for Europe/G9. In 2016, he was appointed senior vice president and chairman of the Eurasia region, with the main markets of Russia, Turkey and Romania. He was appointed as a member of the Renault Management Committee in 2015 and as a member of the Board of Directors of AVTOVAZ in 2016. In his new role, Le Vot will report to Chief Performance Officer Jose Munoz.
