Nissan Announces New Head of Sales & Marketing in Europe

Nissan announced today that Paul Willcox is appointed Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Nissan in Europe, effective July 1, 2011.

Paul is currently Managing Director at Nissan Motor GB Ltd (NMGB) - Nissan's UK national sales company based in Maple Cross. He will replace Simon Thomas, who is leaving the company after 20 years, to pursue a career outside Nissan.

Colin Dodge, EVP and Chairman of Nissan's Africa, Middle East, India and European region (AMIE) said: "Simon has held a number of key positions in Europe and North America. He has helped to significantly grow Nissan's market share in Europe and has established strong momentum for the business. We thank Simon for his significant contribution to Nissan and wish him the best for the future."

Paul Willcox joined Nissan in 1992 and has since held a number of senior positions within the company at both the national and regional level.

Commenting on his appointment, Colin Dodge added: "Paul's appointment in Europe comes as we are making strong progress with our ambition to be the number one Japanese brand in the region.

"We are already there in key markets such as Russia the UK and Spain, our European market share is growing year-on-year, and in 2010 we achieved our highest ever sales total. Paul will ensure that the Europe team stays focused on aggressively pursuing further growth,"

Paul will initially work between the UK and Nissan International SA based in Rolle, Switzerland before transferring to Switzerland permanently on August 1, 2011.

Paul's successor will be announced in due course.

About Paul Willcox
Since 2008, Paul has served as Managing Director for Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd where he led the team to achieve strong results, including securing Nissan's position as no 1 Japanese brand in that market and achieving over 100K in sales in FY10. From 2005, Paul served as Vice President, Strategy and Marketing for Europe and from 2003 as Marketing Director for Nissan GB.

After graduating with a degree in Management from the University of Lancaster in the UK, Paul started his career at Peugeot in the UK and joined Nissan in 1992 as Zone Sales Manager. Since joining Nissan, he has held a number of key positions in Pricing, Marketing, Sales, Corporate Planning and Fleet Sales both at European level and in the UK.