Nissan North America Announces Senior Management Changes

SMYRNA, Tenn.--March 12, 2004--Nissan North America is announcing a series of senior management changes to its manufacturing, purchasing, quality and logistics operations. After 35 years in the automotive industry, including the last 23 years with Nissan, Emil Hassan, Senior Vice President, North American Manufacturing, Purchasing, Quality and Logistics, has announced his retirement effective April 1, 2004.

Dan Gaudette, currently Senior Vice President, U.S. Manufacturing, is appointed Senior Vice President, North American Manufacturing and Quality Assurance. In this role, Gaudette will oversee Nissan's manufacturing operations in Mexico and the U.S., in addition to responsibility for quality assurance for all North American built products.

Nissan North America's purchasing function, under the leadership of Toshiaki Otani, Vice President, Purchasing, will now report directly to the President, Nissan North America.

Other senior appointments include:

-- Greg Daniels, currently Vice President, Manufacturing is appointed Senior Vice President, U.S. Manufacturing.

-- Shinichi Wada, is appointed Vice President, Corporate Quality Assurance.

-- Shoukei Kimura, is appointed Vice President, Manufacturing Engineering, new vehicle programs and simultaneous engineering.

Hassan joined Nissan in 1981 when the Company started its first U.S. manufacturing operation in Smyrna, Tennessee. His first responsibility was to oversee the design and start up of the paint plant. In 1985 Hassan was appointed Vice President and in the following years, took on responsibility for U.S. manufacturing, engineering and product quality. In January 1998, Hassan became a Senior Vice President of Nissan North America and assumed his current role in 2000.

"Emil has played a vital role in Nissan's swift return to profitability. He has made greatly needed changes in the North American purchasing organization and led the effort to quickly expand Nissan's manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and Mexico," said Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Company, Ltd.

Since the establishment of the Smyrna plant in 1981, Nissan North America has gone on to establish manufacturing operations at Decherd, TN for the production of engines, and last year, the all-new Canton facility in Mississippi. Notable achievements have included the quadrupling of the Decherd powertrain assembly plant, taking its capacity to 1 million engines annually, the expansion of the Smyrna plant to its current 550,000-unit capacity, and the opening of Nissan's Canton vehicle assembly facility in May 20, 200403, just 2 1/2 years after Nissan announced the project.

Within the last eight months, four new model launches have taken place in Canton including the all-new Quest minivan and the company's first full-size products, the Titan, Armada and Infiniti QX56. Manufacturing operations in Mexico have also seen a substantial turnaround with production growing by over 60% in the last four years.

"I've had a very rewarding career and am fortunate to have had the support of an excellent team, particularly during the last four years as we undertook the most significant turnaround in automotive history. It has been gratifying to see Nissan go from its deathbed to become the Company with the highest operating margin among the major automotive companies in the world," said Hassan.

While retired, Hassan will continue his relationship with Nissan serving in the role of an advisor to Nissan CEO, Carlos Ghosn. Hassan will also continue to serve as Chairman and CEO of Distribution and Auto Service (DAS), a Nissan affiliate company.

In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found at www.nissannews.com or by contacting the corporate media line at (310) 771-5631.