The carmaker has named Alex Smith as its new UK managing director. Mr Smith was previously director of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand and has also led the commercial vehicles division at VW as well as group parts sales. He started his motor industry career in 1995 and has also worked for Ford and Kia with responsibility for operations, fleet, aftersales, planning and marketing. 

Mr Smith replaces James Wright who has been appointed to the role of vice president of Nissan Europe East, overseeing Russia, Ukraine, Central Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia) and the Datsun Business Unit in Russia, among other entities. 

Mr Wright was appointed managing director of Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd in 2011 and was previously vice president for Infiniti Europe where he was responsible for the launch of the premium brand across 19 markets. 

Mr Wright replaces Philippe Saillard, who has been promoted to vice president, Nissan Europe Sales. Mr Saillard began his career at Ford France and joined Nissan in 2006 as sales director for Nissan Europe West before being appointed sales director for Infiniti in Europe in 2009. In 2010, he was appointed Nissan Europe managing director for Central Eastern Europe and in 2013, he was made managing director of Nissan Europe East. 

Mr Saillard succeeds Raoul Picello who has been named Infiniti vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa.  

All the new appointments will report to Guillaume Cartier, senior vice president for sales & marketing in Nissan Europe, who said the new personnel will “strengthen our organisation’s ability to operate in an increasingly complex business environment and ensure we meet our goal of becoming the most desirable Asian brand in Europe by 2020”.