Nissan appoints new head for Indian office

Nissan has appointed Kiminobu Tokuyama as the managing director (MD) and chief operating officer (COO) of Nissan Motor India, effective January 2009. Tokuyama is currently the COO of the Japanese operations of alliance partner Renault Japan, and will replace the current MD of Nissan Motor India, Shohei Kimura, who will become the company’s chief executive officer (CEO). The reshuffle indicates that Renault and Nissan are firming up plans to shift a large portion of their design and development engineering work to India, as they attempt to ride out the global economic downturn and reduce costs, according to a report. (December 15, 2008)