Infiniti CEO leaves after just two years
07-12-14, 03:21 AM
#31
Pole Position
I've heard about that, never worked for Japanese company or with Japanese partner but I do have lot's of friend over there. Ok maybe like five but still they told me that individual cannot go to the boss and propose some idea. let alone some new radical concept. It has to be a teamwork or committee decision so supposedly after hours they go to bars get shizfaced all together, tell each other what they think and tomorrow morning they come up sounding in unison with great new idea.
07-13-14, 05:29 PM
#41
Lexus Fanatic
Here's another good article on the OP.
In it, he cites "personal" reasons for leaving. That, to me, suggests he might have butted heads with either Ghosn or Nissan's top executive.
http://www.autonews.com/article/2014...s-luxury-brand
TOKYO -- Johan de Nysschen, the former Audi executive lured away by Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn to jumpstart the Infiniti luxury brand, is leaving the Japanese carmaker.
De Nysschen’s departure comes just two years after joining Infiniti at its new global headquarters in Hong Kong on July 1, 2012. De Nysschen submitted his resignation earlier this week, Nissan Motor Corp. Executive Vice President Andy Palmer said in a July 11 interview.
De Nysschen cited personal reasons for leaving, but also has found another employer, Palmer said. An announcement by another company was expected as early as later in the day Friday, he added.
De Nysschen has been talking with General Motors about joining Cadillac, according to two people familiar with the discussions. GM spokesmen declined to comment.
Cadillac chief Bob Ferguson is returning to his previous position as the automaker’s top government lobbyist, effective immediately, GM said Thursday. The Detroit automaker said it would announce Ferguson’s replacement at a later date.
Since mid-March, Ferguson has been spending most of his time in Washington, helping to steer GM’s response to its ignition switch recall.
Back to U.S.?
In deciding to leave Infiniti, Nissan’s Palmer said de Nysschen "cited ... a strong desire to go back to the United States for personal reasons,” and noted that his home and family are still in the United States.
Nissan is considering internal and external candidates to replace de Nysschen, Palmer said. In the interim, Palmer will assume de Nysschen’s duties as president of Infiniti.
As chairman of Infiniti on Nissan Motor Corp.’s management committee, Palmer has overseen the luxury brand since 2009.
The move casts uncertainty over Infiniti at a critical time when the brand was just starting to gain traction, through steadily climbing sales, a series of new product launches, a new dedicated staff and plans for a new factory in Mexico.
Indeed, just this week, Infiniti announced that it sold a record 101,220 new vehicles globally in the first six months of 2014, up 30 percent from a year earlier. The brand broke monthly sales records in April, May and June. Volume grew in 31 markets around the world, including key markets such as the U.S., China, Canada and the Middle East.
“Johan’s contribution has been enormous,” Palmer said. “The trajectory for the first six months was absolutely stunning. We’re intending to keep that continuity of growth.”
To be sure, de Nysschen, 54, helped deliver that success.
But sales are far from the 500,000 annual units his boss has demanded for 2020. And the brand still trails Japanese rival Lexus, not to mention the three German brands -- Mercedes, Audi and BMW -- against which Infiniti publicly benchmarks itself.
Turnaround artist
When de Nysschen left as Audi's U.S. chief for Infiniti, he wrote to colleagues that he thrived on “turnaround strategies” and “building companies,” adding “I too, need to secure my future.”
At Infiniti, there was plenty of building to do.
His task was to cleave Infiniti away from its mass-market sibling brand Nissan as a stand-alone luxury marque.
The relocation of Infiniti to Hong Kong happened just months before he arrived, as the brand symbolically left the nest it shared with Nissan at corporate headquarters in Yokohama, Japan.
His first step was to populate the fledgling spin-off with its own dedicated personnel. Infiniti, which long pulled from staff doing double duty on the Nissan brand, got its own product planners, engineers, designers, regional heads and human resource team.
“When you have a very small team, and you take someone out, it has an impact,” Palmer said. “We now have a huge team with a common goal, and I'm sure we can take the hit.”
The South African executive also championed building the brand’s lineup, tapping new overseas markets and leveraging joint projects with Infiniti’s German partner, Mercedes.
Just last month, Nissan and Daimler AG unveiled plans to spend 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion) to produce 300,000 compact Infiniti and Mercedes vehicles a year at a new factory in Mexico, starting in 2017. That announcement followed the opening of an Infiniti and Mercedes engine factory in Decherd, Tenn., which makes engines for the Infiniti Q50 and Mercedes C class.
Ghosn recruited de Nysschen for his record of hard-charging results as president of Audi of America.
Over his tenure there, Audi’s share of the U.S. luxury market climbed to 9.5 percent in 2011 from 5.3 percent in 2004.
Reality check
But de Nysschen has sometimes been at odds with Ghosn’s own ambitious targets for Infiniti, quietly dialing them back.
For example, Ghosn originally targeted annual Infiniti sales of 500,000 units in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017.
“I'm under absolutely no illusion -- 500,000 cars by 2017 is an inordinately ambitious challenge,” de Nysschen said in an interview last year. “We really do have to get our heads around how we can bring the brand in that direction.”
Since then, the timeline was quietly pushed back to 2020.
He also delayed the rollout of an Infiniti brand electric vehicle. At the 2012 New York auto show, Infiniti unveiled a five-passenger LE concept electric sedan. Then in December 2012, the brand said it would launch an all-electric Infiniti -- the brand's counterpart to the Nissan Leaf -- in 2014.
Last year, de Nysschen said the project was on hold now.
De Nysschen aimed to plow Infiniti’s limited resources into projects with bigger immediate impact, such as starting production in China and the United Kingdom and shepherding the launch of volume nameplates, such as an entry-level Q30 compact.
De Nysschen also advocated at least two halo nameplates above the current flagship Q70 sedan. Offering the first public details on those plans, he said those cars will appear by 2020 and be based on the same platform.
Yen help
Infiniti long struggled against an unfavorable exchange rate that ate into the profits of its Japan-made nameplates.
Indeed, Ghosn said last year that Infiniti's contribution to Nissan Motor's operating profit was “practically erased” in the previous two years by the strong yen.
But the sharp weakening of the Japanese currency since last year has helped to greatly shore up margins.
In an interview last year, De Nysschen said he wouldn’t be upset “if we don't deliver 500,000 cars by 2016, 2017, 2018, as long as directionally at least we are moving there.”
But, he said, “If we are still selling less than 200,000 cars by that time, then you will know the plan has gone wrong.”
Word of De Nysschen’s departure comes just days after Infiniti named longtime BMW executive Gaby-Luise Wuest as its head of global operations, succeeding Francois Goupil de Bouille, whom Infiniti appointed as head of Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Wuest was most recently the regional head of BMW's Mini operations in the Asia-Pacific region and South Africa. Starting Sept. 1, Wuest will head Infiniti's sales and after sales, fleet sales, retail network development and product training.
In it, he cites "personal" reasons for leaving. That, to me, suggests he might have butted heads with either Ghosn or Nissan's top executive.
http://www.autonews.com/article/2014...s-luxury-brand
TOKYO -- Johan de Nysschen, the former Audi executive lured away by Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn to jumpstart the Infiniti luxury brand, is leaving the Japanese carmaker.
De Nysschen’s departure comes just two years after joining Infiniti at its new global headquarters in Hong Kong on July 1, 2012. De Nysschen submitted his resignation earlier this week, Nissan Motor Corp. Executive Vice President Andy Palmer said in a July 11 interview.
De Nysschen cited personal reasons for leaving, but also has found another employer, Palmer said. An announcement by another company was expected as early as later in the day Friday, he added.
De Nysschen has been talking with General Motors about joining Cadillac, according to two people familiar with the discussions. GM spokesmen declined to comment.
Cadillac chief Bob Ferguson is returning to his previous position as the automaker’s top government lobbyist, effective immediately, GM said Thursday. The Detroit automaker said it would announce Ferguson’s replacement at a later date.
Since mid-March, Ferguson has been spending most of his time in Washington, helping to steer GM’s response to its ignition switch recall.
Back to U.S.?
In deciding to leave Infiniti, Nissan’s Palmer said de Nysschen "cited ... a strong desire to go back to the United States for personal reasons,” and noted that his home and family are still in the United States.
Nissan is considering internal and external candidates to replace de Nysschen, Palmer said. In the interim, Palmer will assume de Nysschen’s duties as president of Infiniti.
As chairman of Infiniti on Nissan Motor Corp.’s management committee, Palmer has overseen the luxury brand since 2009.
The move casts uncertainty over Infiniti at a critical time when the brand was just starting to gain traction, through steadily climbing sales, a series of new product launches, a new dedicated staff and plans for a new factory in Mexico.
Indeed, just this week, Infiniti announced that it sold a record 101,220 new vehicles globally in the first six months of 2014, up 30 percent from a year earlier. The brand broke monthly sales records in April, May and June. Volume grew in 31 markets around the world, including key markets such as the U.S., China, Canada and the Middle East.
“Johan’s contribution has been enormous,” Palmer said. “The trajectory for the first six months was absolutely stunning. We’re intending to keep that continuity of growth.”
To be sure, de Nysschen, 54, helped deliver that success.
But sales are far from the 500,000 annual units his boss has demanded for 2020. And the brand still trails Japanese rival Lexus, not to mention the three German brands -- Mercedes, Audi and BMW -- against which Infiniti publicly benchmarks itself.
Turnaround artist
When de Nysschen left as Audi's U.S. chief for Infiniti, he wrote to colleagues that he thrived on “turnaround strategies” and “building companies,” adding “I too, need to secure my future.”
At Infiniti, there was plenty of building to do.
His task was to cleave Infiniti away from its mass-market sibling brand Nissan as a stand-alone luxury marque.
The relocation of Infiniti to Hong Kong happened just months before he arrived, as the brand symbolically left the nest it shared with Nissan at corporate headquarters in Yokohama, Japan.
His first step was to populate the fledgling spin-off with its own dedicated personnel. Infiniti, which long pulled from staff doing double duty on the Nissan brand, got its own product planners, engineers, designers, regional heads and human resource team.
“When you have a very small team, and you take someone out, it has an impact,” Palmer said. “We now have a huge team with a common goal, and I'm sure we can take the hit.”
The South African executive also championed building the brand’s lineup, tapping new overseas markets and leveraging joint projects with Infiniti’s German partner, Mercedes.
Just last month, Nissan and Daimler AG unveiled plans to spend 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion) to produce 300,000 compact Infiniti and Mercedes vehicles a year at a new factory in Mexico, starting in 2017. That announcement followed the opening of an Infiniti and Mercedes engine factory in Decherd, Tenn., which makes engines for the Infiniti Q50 and Mercedes C class.
Ghosn recruited de Nysschen for his record of hard-charging results as president of Audi of America.
Over his tenure there, Audi’s share of the U.S. luxury market climbed to 9.5 percent in 2011 from 5.3 percent in 2004.
Reality check
But de Nysschen has sometimes been at odds with Ghosn’s own ambitious targets for Infiniti, quietly dialing them back.
For example, Ghosn originally targeted annual Infiniti sales of 500,000 units in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017.
“I'm under absolutely no illusion -- 500,000 cars by 2017 is an inordinately ambitious challenge,” de Nysschen said in an interview last year. “We really do have to get our heads around how we can bring the brand in that direction.”
Since then, the timeline was quietly pushed back to 2020.
He also delayed the rollout of an Infiniti brand electric vehicle. At the 2012 New York auto show, Infiniti unveiled a five-passenger LE concept electric sedan. Then in December 2012, the brand said it would launch an all-electric Infiniti -- the brand's counterpart to the Nissan Leaf -- in 2014.
Last year, de Nysschen said the project was on hold now.
De Nysschen aimed to plow Infiniti’s limited resources into projects with bigger immediate impact, such as starting production in China and the United Kingdom and shepherding the launch of volume nameplates, such as an entry-level Q30 compact.
De Nysschen also advocated at least two halo nameplates above the current flagship Q70 sedan. Offering the first public details on those plans, he said those cars will appear by 2020 and be based on the same platform.
Yen help
Infiniti long struggled against an unfavorable exchange rate that ate into the profits of its Japan-made nameplates.
Indeed, Ghosn said last year that Infiniti's contribution to Nissan Motor's operating profit was “practically erased” in the previous two years by the strong yen.
But the sharp weakening of the Japanese currency since last year has helped to greatly shore up margins.
In an interview last year, De Nysschen said he wouldn’t be upset “if we don't deliver 500,000 cars by 2016, 2017, 2018, as long as directionally at least we are moving there.”
But, he said, “If we are still selling less than 200,000 cars by that time, then you will know the plan has gone wrong.”
Word of De Nysschen’s departure comes just days after Infiniti named longtime BMW executive Gaby-Luise Wuest as its head of global operations, succeeding Francois Goupil de Bouille, whom Infiniti appointed as head of Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Wuest was most recently the regional head of BMW's Mini operations in the Asia-Pacific region and South Africa. Starting Sept. 1, Wuest will head Infiniti's sales and after sales, fleet sales, retail network development and product training.
07-14-14, 06:46 AM
#42
As exciting as the Eau Rouge concept was, I really don't think Infiniti's priorities should be on high performance, low volume models right now. Most importantly, they need to revamp the QX50 fast...and I assume base it on the Rogue. This makes the most sense from a cost/competitive standpoint. I say keep the QX70 as a RWD biased performance machine based on the Q50 platform, but the QX50 really can be the same as Q5, NX and based on humble, FWD econo-CUV roots.
Second needs to be the Q60, as I think the original G35 coupe was one of the brand's most iconic cars. This will help generate excitement about the brand and pull in performance enthusiasts.
Third, the Q30/QX30 are coming up soon and will be critical products for Infiniti. They need a lot of focus.
Most of these can be executed with Nissan platforms and hardware and will be quick wins, giving execs time to focus on a dedicated strategy for products like a flagship or the next gen Q70.
Second needs to be the Q60, as I think the original G35 coupe was one of the brand's most iconic cars. This will help generate excitement about the brand and pull in performance enthusiasts.
Third, the Q30/QX30 are coming up soon and will be critical products for Infiniti. They need a lot of focus.
Most of these can be executed with Nissan platforms and hardware and will be quick wins, giving execs time to focus on a dedicated strategy for products like a flagship or the next gen Q70.
07-14-14, 08:08 AM
#43
This is obviously not good news for Infiniti. I can't understand how you can come in, completely overhaul everything, make clear, direct plans on future products, then jump ship to Cadillac. It doesn't make sense on the surface. Unless of course his hands were tied over major decisions being made over there. They hired him to do a very specific job and if he was being overruled over major decisions that he felt were critical to the brand, I can see why he would not want to do a half-assed job with it, as the results would be a reflection on his performance. Combine that with probably a great offer from Cadillac (an established brand that is doing better than Infiniti), him being able to be closer to his family, etc, and I guess it's a no-brainer why he left.
Sounds like you have some inside info there and it really doesn't surprise me in the least. The fact that a re-badged Juke is being produced for the Chinese market tells me that he was somewhat being controlled over product decisions being made by others within Nissan. That choice does not seem like it was his, taking his past record and previous statements into account over the direction he wanted to take Infiniti.
So where does this leave them now? The statement "we'll be fine" by Matthew Davis is not very convincing. What's going to happen to the Eau Rogue concept? The (2) upcoming flagships? Johan was responsible for making all these decisions. They better hire someone good with a vision for the brand and fast.
Sounds like you have some inside info there and it really doesn't surprise me in the least. The fact that a re-badged Juke is being produced for the Chinese market tells me that he was somewhat being controlled over product decisions being made by others within Nissan. That choice does not seem like it was his, taking his past record and previous statements into account over the direction he wanted to take Infiniti.
So where does this leave them now? The statement "we'll be fine" by Matthew Davis is not very convincing. What's going to happen to the Eau Rogue concept? The (2) upcoming flagships? Johan was responsible for making all these decisions. They better hire someone good with a vision for the brand and fast.
It was basically a differing view of how to develop the brand. de Nysschen wanted to reboot it and turn it into a true luxury brand... Ghosn simply wanted volume and positive cash flow. Nissan/Infiniti has some great technology and innovation in their cars, such as the around-view monitor that uses motion-tracking software on the camera feeds to detect motion and prevent accidents. It also has a lot of racing experience and know-how. It would have been interesting to see a real second Japanese player in the luxury demographic to challenge the Germans who really only seem to pay attention to one another.
As exciting as the Eau Rouge concept was, I really don't think Infiniti's priorities should be on high performance, low volume models right now. Most importantly, they need to revamp the QX50 fast...and I assume base it on the Rogue. This makes the most sense from a cost/competitive standpoint. I say keep the QX70 as a RWD biased performance machine based on the Q50 platform, but the QX50 really can be the same as Q5, NX and based on humble, FWD econo-CUV roots.
Second needs to be the Q60, as I think the original G35 coupe was one of the brand's most iconic cars. This will help generate excitement about the brand and pull in performance enthusiasts.
Third, the Q30/QX30 are coming up soon and will be critical products for Infiniti. They need a lot of focus.
Most of these can be executed with Nissan platforms and hardware and will be quick wins, giving execs time to focus on a dedicated strategy for products like a flagship or the next gen Q70.
Second needs to be the Q60, as I think the original G35 coupe was one of the brand's most iconic cars. This will help generate excitement about the brand and pull in performance enthusiasts.
Third, the Q30/QX30 are coming up soon and will be critical products for Infiniti. They need a lot of focus.
Most of these can be executed with Nissan platforms and hardware and will be quick wins, giving execs time to focus on a dedicated strategy for products like a flagship or the next gen Q70.
Infiniti needs something that will make people enter their dealerships, and make them drive away feeling on par with the performance cachet of BMW or MB or Audi. It doesn't need more cars. It needs less cars, because what they have right now is not selling.
07-14-14, 08:36 AM
#44
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
he could have left for many reasons ... maybe he didn't like living in hong kong. 
but most likely it was challenges / differences with his 'boss'.
i think infiniti is in a very promising position right now. while many have scoffed at the 'q' naming, i think it's smart to reboot the branding now rather than later. infiniti's had such an inconsistent history... maybe now they're on the verge of really becoming a player, but we'll see.
but most likely it was challenges / differences with his 'boss'.
i think infiniti is in a very promising position right now. while many have scoffed at the 'q' naming, i think it's smart to reboot the branding now rather than later. infiniti's had such an inconsistent history... maybe now they're on the verge of really becoming a player, but we'll see.
07-14-14, 01:42 PM
#45
he could have left for many reasons ... maybe he didn't like living in hong kong.
but most likely it was challenges / differences with his 'boss'.
i think infiniti is in a very promising position right now. while many have scoffed at the 'q' naming, i think it's smart to reboot the branding now rather than later. infiniti's had such an inconsistent history... maybe now they're on the verge of really becoming a player, but we'll see.
but most likely it was challenges / differences with his 'boss'.
i think infiniti is in a very promising position right now. while many have scoffed at the 'q' naming, i think it's smart to reboot the branding now rather than later. infiniti's had such an inconsistent history... maybe now they're on the verge of really becoming a player, but we'll see.