AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/26 Report--

On April 26th, Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company of Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. announced its latest appointment: Liu Xinyu will be the general manager of Dongfeng Nissan Automobile sales Co., Ltd., and Senior General Minoru Fujimi will be the chief minister of Infiniti Business headquarters of Dongfeng Nissan passenger car company. Due to the expiration of his tenure, Xin Yu will no longer serve as General Manager of Dongfeng Nissan Automobile sales Co., Ltd., and Chief Minister of Infiniti Enterprise headquarters of Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company.

According to the data, Xin Yu has served as the senior director of SAIC-Volkswagen marketing and the senior director of high-end car marketing, and has rich industry experience in sales system, sales business management, automotive product planning, brand communication and innovative marketing. In January 2018, Liu Zongxin, the former chief head of Dongfeng Nissan's sales headquarters, officially left. The next month, Xin Yu joined Dongfeng Nissan and became the chief minister of the marketing and sales headquarters of Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company, and later became the general manager of Dongfeng Nissan Automobile sales Co., Ltd. In May 2022, Infiniti Enterprise headquarters announced that Xin Yu will serve concurrently as Chief Minister of Infiniti Enterprise headquarters of Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company.

In 2003, Nissan and Dongfeng jointly established Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd., the largest automotive joint venture in China. Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company was established under its umbrella to specialize in passenger car business. At present, Nissan and Qichen are mainly engaged in two major brands. Infiniti business headquarters was incorporated into Dongfeng Nissan management system as an independent business headquarters in December 2020, becoming the third brand under Dongfeng Nissan. In the year when Xin Yu joined Dongfeng Nissan, Nissan reached a sales peak in China, with sales of 1.564 million vehicles, up 2.9% from a year earlier, surpassing Toyota China and Nissan China. Of this total, Dongfeng Nissan passenger cars (including Nissan / Qichen) sold 1.3011 million vehicles, up 2.8 per cent from the same period last year.

Like many brands, 2018 has become a beautiful scenery for Nissan in China. Nissan's sales in China began to decline in 2019. Data show that Nissan sold 1.5469 million vehicles in China from 2019 to 2022, 1.4567 million vehicles, 1.3815 million vehicles and 1.045 million vehicles respectively.

Although Nissan's sales in China have exceeded 1 million for eight consecutive years, sales have declined for four consecutive years. According to relevant data, Dongfeng Nissan retail sales in 2022 were 898000 vehicles, down 20.9 percent from the same period last year. It is understood that this is the first time that Dongfeng Nissan has fallen below one million vehicles since 2014, including 1.133 million in 2020 and 1.135 million in 2021.

According to the latest data, Nissan's sales in China in the first quarter of 2023 were 162000, down 36.8% from a year earlier, of which Dongfeng Nissan was 151800, down 37.4% from a year earlier. It is not difficult to see that when Xin Yu was the head of Dongfeng Nissan passenger car company, although he enhanced the ability of Dongfeng Nissan's marketing system, upgraded the brand, and helped the company's high quality surpass 15 million of its production and marketing scale, the actual market performance was not satisfactory.

His successor, Liu Xinyu, held various management positions in SAIC-Volkswagen supply chain and procurement department, and later served as executive director of SAIC Volkswagen Skoda brand business. In March 2020, Liu Xinyu was appointed CEO of MG France. In March 2022, Liu Xinyu succeeded Matt Lei as CEO of MG Europe. According to the latest announcement, Liu Xinyu has left Mingjue to become general manager of Dongfeng Nissan Automobile sales Co., Ltd.

For the new leader, how to reverse the decline of Dongfeng Nissan passenger cars will be the top priority after he takes office. At present, Dongfeng Nissan passenger cars are mainly engaged in Nissan and Qichen brands, among which Nissan brands account for the majority of Nissan's sales in China, including Xuanyi, Teana, Qijun, Xiaoke, Bluebird, Tuda, Jinke, Loulan and other models, but the best-selling models are only Xuanyi, Teana and Loulan, and with the intensification of market competition, the performance of related models in the end market is also deteriorating. Among them, Xuanyi fell 33.1% in the first quarter compared with the same period last year.

As for the chief minister of Infiniti Business headquarters of Dongfeng Nissan passenger car company, his successor is Minda Fujigi, who joined Nissan in 2019. He has held the positions of head of Nissan's Asia-Pacific Marketing Department, Nissan Indonesia's Project Director, Global Dealer Network Department of Global sales and Dealer Network headquarters, and Deputy General Manager of Zhengzhou Nissan Executive.

Like other brands, 2018 was a turning point for Infiniti. Infiniti's sales in China fell to 44400 in 2018 and 35000, 25000 and 8696 from 2019 to 2021, respectively. After entering 2022, Infiniti, which was included in Dongfeng Nissan, showed a decline, and the new domestic model QX60 was not recognized by the market. Coupled with the impact of the epidemic and spare parts supply, Infiniti's annual sales were only 6391.

For the decline in sales, the industry generally blames Infiniti's lack of attention to Chinese market investment, the lack of iteration of old products and the slow introduction of new products. Infiniti pressed the pause button after launching the Q50L and QX50 models, and did not launch its third domestic model, the QX60, until 2022. During this 8-year gap, Infiniti unswervingly practices the thrifty way of "new three years, old three years, sewing and mending another three years". Q50L and QX50 add configuration to keep updated, that is, not iterative upgrades, to the end, even welcome laser LOGO lights and wireless charging are promoted as selling points.

In January 2022, Dongfeng Infiniti was downgraded and incorporated into the management system of Dongfeng Nissan as an independent business headquarters, becoming the third brand of Dongfeng Nissan, at the same level as Nissan and Qichen. In May 2022, Infiniti Enterprise headquarters announced that Xin Yu, General Manager of Dongfeng Nissan Automobile sales Co., Ltd., was appointed Chief Minister of Infiniti Enterprise headquarters. According to statistics, Infiniti has changed a total of five managers over the past eight years, but it has never found a conductor who can accurately sort out the demands of the brand and accurately grasp the context of the brand, and now Infiniti has adjusted this position. Fujimi, who has been ploughing Nissan for many years, needs to be further tested as to whether he can lead Infiniti out of the quagmire.

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