Nissan Moves Diaz to Trucks in Management Shuffle

Indicating its need to make a success out of the second-generation Titan fullsize pickup, Nissan essentially demotes Fred Diaz from head of overall U.S. sales and marketing to oversee the brand’s trucks, CUVs, SUVs and vans.

Diaz, who joined Nissan from Ram in 2013, officially will be division vice president and general manager-North America Trucks and Light Commercial Vehicles, Nissan says in a statement.

“In this newly formed role, Diaz will use his extensive truck experience to focus on building a holistic business strategy for Nissan’s commercial vehicles across the North America region,” the automaker says.

Diaz will report to Christian Meunier, who replaces him as senior vice president-Nissan Sales, Marketing and Operations for Nissan North America. Meunier also will hold the title of chairman of Nissan Canada. He currently is the president of Nissan Canada.

Jose Munoz, executive vice president-Nissan and chairman-NNA, cites Meunier’s success in Canada, where sales and market share hit records under his 3-year tenure, as a reason for his promotion.

The No.3 Japanese automaker lauds Diaz for helping “strengthen the division’s focus on trucks and commercial vehicles” while providing guidance on the launch of the Titan XD, equipped with a Cummins diesel engine.

Under Diaz Nissan has had a positive 2015. With one month remaining in the year, Nissan U.S. sales are up 5.4% to 1.227 million, although the 18.2% increase in total truck sales outpaced a 2.4% decline in cars.

Other noteworthy moves among a slew of management changes include Pierre Loing, Nissan North America’s vice president of product planning, shifting to Japan to become division general manager of Lifecycle Management for the automaker.

Replacing Loing as vice president of North American product planning is Michael Bunce, the current vice president of NNA’s Light Commercial Vehicle Business Unit.

All management changes are effective Jan. 1.

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