Nissan gets a new NA chairman

Nissan, which has seen sales decline in North America, has announced that the current chairman of North American operations, Jose Valls, will be leaving that post on June 15. Jose Valls had held the position for a year and a half, having taken over from Denis Le Vot, who had been in charge for 14 months. Nissan said Valls was leaving for personal reasons. Nissan’s sales during the first quarter of this year fell by 30 percent and its market share declined from 9.1 to 7.3 percent.

Valls was key in an effort to bolster profits by reducing incentives and fleet sales. Both of these strategies – offering significant incentives and relying on fleet sales – were utilized by Nissan’s former chairman, and now fugitive from Japan living in Lebanon, Carlos Ghosn.