Philippe Klein

Philippe Klein is Chief Planning Officer and works across the business to plan, develop and implement Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (NML)'s global product strategy. He was appointed to his current role in September 2014.

His additional responsibilities include market intelligence, overseeing NML's Vehicle Information Technology business (VIT), Nissan Motorsports International (NISMO) and CVAS (Chief Vehicle Assessment Specialist) team. Klein's role is to make sure the company gets the benefit from its capital investment in product development throughout the lifecycle of each vehicle.  His responsibility for market intelligence ensures the voice of the customer is heard clearly within the company, and especially in product and services development.

Klein has spent his entire career with Renault and Nissan, starting in 1981 as Powertrain Engineer. In the late 1980s Klein worked for two years in Japan as part of a Renault training program organized by the EU (executive training program ETP, May 1989) that was designed to help Europeans understand Japanese business methods. Ten years later, he was back in Japan working for the newly formed Renault-Nissan Alliance. Initially, he was Vice President in charge of the CEO's office (1999-2003), returning to Japan and NML in 2007 as Senior Vice President responsible for the CEO's and COO's office and corporate administration. In 2008, he returned to Renault as a member of the Executive Committee to lead the product planning and programs division.

Klein helped to create what is now the CEO's office and initiated the cross-functional teams. This proved to be an efficient and pragmatic way to cut across the silos of the organization at that time. This work materialized in October 1999 with the launch of the Nissan Revival Plan - a new direction for the company and the start of its turnaround. 

Klein studied Engineering and Physics at École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, Paris Ecole Nationale Supérieure du Pétrole et des Moteurs, Paris.

Klein speaks French and English.

Updated: April 2018