One of the quieter “strong” brands in the Philippines, Nissan, has just welcomed the newest person to take the helm. Last May 11, during a ceremony (appropriately) named “The Handover”, outgoing Nissan President Atsushi Najima along with other Nissan Philippines executives welcomed the new head honcho, Juan Manuel Hoyos.
Photo: Nissan
The event also celebrated the many achievements of outgoing President Atsushi Najima, as he begins his new role as Chief Financial Officer at Nissan India. The ceremony included well wishes from NPI employees, partners, and the media to both Najima and Hoyos as they start new chapters of their professional careers with Nissan.
Photo: Nissan
Hoyos joined Nissan in 2017 as Marketing Director for the Latin America region, where he later took on the role as the General Manager for Global Engagement Brand, based in Nissan’s global headquarters in Yokohama. Before Nissan, Hoyos held various management positions at Renault and General Motors. He was officially appointed as NPI President in April 2022.
6 new Nissan models in 2022?
Interestingly, during his speech, new Nissan Philippines President Juan Manuel Hoyos, “revealed” to the attendees that Nissan plans to continue its push for more, and strengthen its hold on 3rd place in the Philippine automotive market by launching 6 models before 2022 ends.
What could the 6 models be? The first is the Nissan Kicks E-Power. The Kicks is set to be the replacement for the aging Nissan Juke and was teased during the recently concluded Manila International Auto Show. What sets the Kicks apart is that it will debut Nissan’s Hybrid Technology called E-Power.
As for the other 5 models, we can only speculate for now. Globally, Nissan has a vast and formidable lineup of cars. We could possibly see the entry of such coveted models as the Nissan 400Z, the all-electric Ariya, and the new X-Trail, among others.
Another interesting takeaway from the event was after speaking to some Nissan executives, I was told that they are planning to further capitalize on Electric Vehicles (EVs) locally. Nissan is currently one of the few mainstream brands that do offer a fully electric vehicle in their lineup, the Nissan Leaf.
One thing is for sure, Nissan isn’t resting on its laurels and with a new President, we could see Nissan soar to greater heights.
