Nissan has made two key senior appointments in the region, naming Peyman Kargar as senior vice president and chairman of the Africa, Middle East, and India region (AMI), effective April 1 and Kalyana Sivagnanam as regional vice president, marketing and sales for AMI.

Sivagnanam will also be president of Nissan Middle East, said a statement.

The appointments come as the region becomes increasingly significant for Nissan’s global business, it said.

Kargar replaces Christian Mardrus who takes up the newly created positon of senior vice president, digital transformation for Nissan Motor Co., following two years as AMI chairman.

In his new role, Kargar will lead the regional management committee and be responsible for business strategy and performance for both the Nissan and Datsun brands with all functional heads reporting to him, the company said.

Kargar, 49, joins Nissan from its Alliance partner Renault, where he has worked since 1996 in a number of senior management posts spanning engineering, quality, service, projects and aftersales.

His most recent position was as Renault’s vice president sales and marketing, Africa, the Middle East and India since 2014. Peyman effectively established the new region for Renault and gained extensive market knowledge through working in over 50 countries.

Since 2010 he has also been responsible for expanding Renault’s business in the Middle East as managing director for the Renault Group in Iran, where he oversaw a trebling of sales volume. His scope was enlarged considerably in 2012 when he was promoted to managing director Middle East operations, responsible for all industrial and commercial activities across 13 countries.

In his new role Sivagnanam will oversee all marketing and sales in the Africa, Middle East and India region. He will also assume overall responsibility for Nissan’s business in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Sivagnanam, an MBA graduate from the UK, has more than 18 years of experience in the automotive industry. He joined Nissan from Ford where he led the development of the Lincoln and Ford brands in the Middle East and Africa as vice president of marketing, sales and service. Previously he was a regional director for Ford in Europe where he was instrumental in turning around the performance of the Northern Region – from worst to best – in 18 months.

Nissan’s global chief performance officer, Jose Munoz, said: “The AMI region is poised for significant and sustained, long-term growth and is becoming an increasingly important market for Nissan. Peyman brings with him a wealth of senior experience from this part of the world with our Alliance partner Renault, which will be vital in continuing to drive our business forward by meeting the needs of an expanding and evolving customer base.

“Shivi brings to Nissan a deep knowledge of Africa, the Middle East and India and a strong track record of success,” added Munoz. - TradeArabia News Service