Nissan appoints Philippe Klein as Chief Planning Officer

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. President and CEO Carlos Ghosn announced the appointment of Philippe Klein from September 15, 2014, as Chief Planning Officer and a member of the company's Executive Committee following approval by the company's Board of Directors.

Klein, who will report to Ghosn, will have global responsibility for Product Planning, Program Management, EV Sales and the Battery Business Unit, Marketing, Sales, Market Intelligence, and Vehicle Information Technology; he will be based at the company's Yokohama headquarters. He replaces Andy Palmer who has notified Nissan that he has accepted a position with another company.

"Philippe Klein will make a significant contribution to Nissan," said Ghosn. "He brings considerable engineering and product management expertise to Nissan as well as a deep knowledge of and a long experience in the industry and in the Alliance."

Klein joins Nissan from Alliance partner Renault where he most recently served as an Executive Vice-President and a member of the Renault Executive Committee and as the Head of Product Planning, Programs.

This is Klein's third assignment with Nissan since the formation of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. From 1999 to 2003, he was a Nissan Vice-President in-charge of the CEO Office. He returned to Renault for a five-year period, returning in 2007 as a Nissan Senior Vice-President in-charge of the CEO and COO offices and Corporate Administration. He remained with Nissan through most of 2008 and then returned to Renault to lead the Product Planning, Programs there.

He joined Renault in 1981 as a member of the Engine Development Department. In 1992, he was appointed Executive Assistant to the Chairman. From 1994 until his first assignment in Nissan, Klein led engine development in the Powertrain Engineering Department and then he served as vice president for Process Quality in the Vehicle Engineering Department.

Klein earned degrees from the Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles and the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Petroles et Moteurs both located in Paris.

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