Nissan Motor has appointed Guillaume Cartier its new Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) chairperson, replacing Gianluca De Ficchy who served for three years as Nissan Europe chairperson and then the expanded AMIEO region.

Effective April 1, Cartier will lead all Nissan operations in the region, which covers more than 140 markets across four continents with a population of around 3.8-billion people, and which represent more than 30% of global vehicle sales.

Cartier will report to vice-chief performance officer and chief quality officer Christian Vandenhende.

With over 25 years’ experience at Nissan and in the alliance in global and regional leadership positions, he will lead the new region as the Nissan NEXT transformation plan continues to gather pace and with key models in Europe including the Qashqai and Ariya launching soon.

Nissan is also growing in the Africa, Middle East, India and Oceania markets, as a result of a powerful vehicle line-up, ranging from the iconic Patrol to the recently launched Magnite in India.

Cartier says he is “thrilled” to be leading this culturally rich and diverse region into a period of unprecedented change for the automotive industry and with a refreshed range of Nissan models and technologies coming to the market.

“A new period of sustainable growth is beginning for Nissan, as we continue to progress the Nissan NEXT transformation plan, accelerating our journey towards a fully electrified line-up in Europe by 2023, and bringing our enhanced product line-up to our growing loyal customer base in Africa, the Middle East, India and Oceania,” he says.

Currently AMIEO vice-chairperson and Africa, Middle East and India (AMI) president, Cartier first joined Nissan in 1995 as after-sales manager and went on to hold a number of senior management positions in the alliance, including AMI chairperson, Global Datsun head, Mitsubishi Motors executive officer, senior VP and Europe sales and marketing senior VP.

Taking Cartier’s position as AMIEO sales and marketing senior VP is Leon Dorssers, also effective from April 1. Dorssers will report to Cartier covering all AMIEO sales and marketing functions including sales, dealer network, product strategy and pricing, brand and customer experience.

Currently based at the global headquarters in Japan as global sales, product marketing and customer quality and dealer network development senior VP, Dorssers joined Nissan as a graduate trainee in 1992 and has since held multiple sales & marketing functions in country, regional and global leadership positions.

“The new AMIEO region will enable Nissan to be more competitive across our operations and allow us to deploy the latest technologies consistently and faster to our customers across the region,” he says.

Dorssers adds that with models like Ariya, Qashqai, Magnite and Kicks, and technologies like e-POWER and ProPILOT, Nissan has already given its customers a taste of what is to come from Nissan. “The coming years will be even more innovative and electrified.”