Changes in Americas unit
Nissan said Colin Dodge, executive vice president and chief performance officer and chairman of the automaker's Africa, Middle East, India and Europe unit, will take on the additional post as head of the Americas region, succeeding Tavares. The change is effective June 13.
The automaker also named Bill Krueger to the post of vice chairman for Nissan Americas, a new role, effective June 13. Krueger will be Nissan Americas' highest-ranking resident executive and will report to Dodge.
Krueger will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of Nissan Americas' business in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil and 37 other Latin American and Caribbean countries.
"Bill Krueger has demonstrated the business acumen and leadership qualities necessary to take on the added responsibilities required of a resident vice chairman," said Dodge.
Krueger, 46, most recently served as senior vice president for manufacturing, purchasing, supply chain management and customer satisfaction for Nissan Americas.
Prior to joining Nissan, he held several management posts at Toyota's manufacturing plants and served as general manager of the automaker's Georgetown, Ky., plant.
He previously held management roles at General Motors' Janesville, Wis., assembly plant and at Harley Davidson's Utilimaster Corp.
French pressure
The French government, Renault's biggest shareholder with a 15 percent stake, has been pressing Renault take a clearer lead in its alliance with Nissan, in which it owns a 43.4 percent stake, Bloomberg News said earlier today.
Ghosn will increase his involvement at Renault, and the No. 2 position will be slightly reduced from the full daily operational oversight that the CEO had ceded to Pelata in 2008, Bloomberg reported.
Tavares, a Portuguese national who speaks fluent French and English, spent 23 years working at Renault in engineering and program-management roles before moving to alliance partner Nissan in 2004.
As chairman of Nissan's America's committee, Tavares, 52, has divided his time between Nashville, Tenn., and Tokyo.
Renault said Tavares will oversee the implementation of the automaker's strategy to accelerate its growth in international markets and increase its presence in new technologies, particularly electric vehicles.
Tavares will gradually increase involvement and will have fully assumed his responsibilities by July 1, Renault said.
Taveres returns to Paris
Tavares is a graduate of Ecole Centrale de Paris, one of France's most prestigious engineering schools. He has spent most of his working life with Renault, where he held a wide range of posts in France, in the engineering and programs division. In his down-time, his hobby is racing sports cars.
He joined Nissan as program director and was promoted to vice president of product strategy and product planning. In 2005, Tavares was appointed to Nissan's board of directors, and in 2009 he assumed responsibility for operations at Nissan Americas.
Reuters, Bloomberg and David Phillips contributed to this report.
