Nissan Names New Quality Vice President; Doug Betts Joins Nissan's U.S. Manufacturing Organization

SMYRNA, Tenn.--Sept. 13, 2004--Nissan North America, Inc., (NNA) today announced the appointment of a new vice president of quality for its North American manufacturing operations.

Douglas G. Betts, formerly general manager of Quality at Toyota's Princeton, Ind., plants, is now vice president, Product Quality, effective today.

"Doug is a strong addition to our management team. He replaces Mo Brunelle, who retired September 1 after 23 years with Nissan," said Dan Gaudette, NNA senior vice president of North American Manufacturing and Quality Assurance. "We've been aware of Mo's impending retirement, and that gave us the time and opportunity to search internally and externally to find the best person. Doug's work in quality, engineering and manufacturing is the right mix of experience and expertise Nissan requires in this position."

Betts has been with Toyota since 1997 and was responsible for all quality-related activities, including Quality Engineering, Supplier Quality Assurance and Inspection Operations. Prior to his work at Toyota, Doug held management positions in production and quality for Michelin North America, Inc.

Since Nissan first established a manufacturing presence in the United States in 1980, the company has invested more than $4 billion in its three U.S. manufacturing facilities. The three plants combined employ approximately 12,000 employees. The Smyrna, Tenn., plant builds Nissan Maxima sports sedans, Nissan Xterra sport utility vehicles, Nissan Frontier compact pickup trucks, Nissan Altima midsize sedans and the all-new Nissan Pathfinder mid-size SUV. The Canton, Miss., plant builds the Nissan Quest minivan, the Titan full-size pick-up truck, the Armada full-size SUV, the Infiniti QX56 full-size luxury SUV and additional Altima sedans. In Decherd, Tenn., Nissan builds engines for all U.S.-produced Nissan and Infiniti vehicles and assembles transaxles.

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 online at www.NissanUSA.com and www.infiniti.com.