Since July, Nissan has been looking for a new Infiniti chief who could fill in the position that was left by Johan de Nysschen. Nysschen left the company to lead the Cadillac division of General Motors. More recently, the chairman of the company, Andy Palmer, left his post to become the new CEO at Aston Martin.
Roland Krueger will serve as Infiniti's president as well as the senior VP of the parent company, Nissan, which has its headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. He will be based at the company's Hong Kong headquarters and shall report directly to Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's CEO.
Nissan and Infinity have been hiring executives from rival companies which began when the company had opened its Hong Kong headquarters two years ago. Ghosn is counting on premium sales to help augment the company's operating margin by up to 8 percent by March 2017. Since its move to Hong Kong, Infiniti began to expand its market reach in South America and Southeast Asia. Production plans for Mexico, China and the U.K. have also been announced.
In July, Infiniti hired ex- BMW executive Gaby-Luise Wuest as its new VP for global operations. Last year, the company hired Daniel Kirchert of BMW who headed the German carmaker's headquarters in China since 2007.
Infiniti will start production in China this year and will start off with manufacturing two long-wheelbase models. Despite the country's ongoing anti-privacy campaign which had mostly targeted foreign companies, foreign automakers continue to step up investments to gain a wider share in the country. McKinsey & Co. predicts that China will overtake the U.S. in becoming the top market for luxury vehicles by 2016.
Infiniti continues to lag behind its key competitors such as Lexus, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW in terms of global sales. Based on records, Infiniti sold 101,220 vehicles worldwide within the first six months of the current year. The number showed an increased volume of 30 percent compared to last year.
In contrast, Audi's worldwide sales increased by 11 percent to 1.14 million vehicles by August. Mercedes earned a 12 percent increase with 1.03 million sold vehicles within the first eight months. Lastly, BMW noted an increase of 10 percent with 1.03 million sold vehicles by July.
Krueger's entry into Infiniti is a crucial move as the company is about to reveal a new halo car, which is in the form of a fastback sedan, at the motor show in Paris scheduled in October. The company is placing their hope on the car to sell 500,000 units by 2017 and become a turning point of success.
"Roland Kruger has a consistent record of high performance in the premium automotive sector," said Ghosn in a statement.
