The reintroduction of Datsun next year is being masterminded by a man who started his career with Nissan when the company’s Sunderland factory in north east England opened 25 years ago.
Trevor Mann started as a line leader. In January he takes over the new role of Nissan’s chief operating officer.
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“I will be the head of the Datsun business unit,” he said. “We are currently at the introduction stage. We unveiled our first car, the Go, in India in June-July and the Go+ in Indonesia in September-October. We will start production in India in early 2014.”
Datsun will initially be introduced in India, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa.
“These are cars suitable for specific markets but I wouldn’t be surprised if we got requests from other markets later.”
Mann described his new role within Nissan as “the glue between the regions” now six instead of three to ensure greater local focus within a global company.
As part of his new job he will be responsible for helping Nissan to hit its Power 88 targets – 8% profitability on its operations and 8% market share world wide.
