Nissan has hired a former top-notch BMW executive, Ronald Kruger, to lead operations of its luxury car segment, Infiniti.
Nissan, the renowned car making company, is revamping its management after losing two top officials from its luxury car division, Infiniti. In order to fill those positions, the company has been hiring executives from rivals. The latest change in the management includes new hire, Ronald Kruger, who was the former senior vice president at BMW. The 48-year-old German will oversee all operations related to Infiniti and report directly to Nissan's CEO Carlos Ghosn.
Kruger's appointment fills one of the top positions left by two former execs. Andy Palmer, who supervised Infiniti unit as Nissan's chief planning officer, left his role at the company last week to join Aston Martin as the new CEO. In July, Infiniti's President Johan de Nysschen resigned to join GM's Cadillac brand. Kruger will start as the President of Infiniti and also add another title to his resume with his role of senior vice president of Nissan. He will conduct operations from the company's Hong Kong headquarters, Bloomberg reports.
Infiniti is facing a stiff challenge from giants like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lexus in the luxury car segment. But the company says it is on the rise since it sold 101,220 vehicles worldwide in the first six months of 2014, up 30 percent compared to last year. When sales are compared with Audi and Mercedes, Infiniti has a lot of catching up to do.
Audi recorded an 11 percent increase in sales to 1.14 million through August and Mercedes enjoyed a 12 percent spike with 1.03 million sales in the first eight months of this year. BMW sold 1.03 million vehicles until July, up 10 percent compared to the previous year, media reports revealed.
Kruger's previous roles include interior and exterior designer at Mitsubishi in Europe before moving to Daimler's Smart brand, Reuters reports. He started working for BMW in 1998 but is not clear when Kruger will end his current role and join the new offices in Hong Kong.
