Carlos Ghosn Receives Prestigious J.D. Power and Associates 'Founder's Award' for Distinguished Service in the Automotive Industry

NEW YORK - April 12, 2006: J.D. Power III, founder of J.D. Power and Associates, presented the prestigious Founder's Award to Carlos Ghosn for his distinguished service to the global automotive consumer.

Power presented the Founder's Award to Ghosn, president and chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., at the Morgan Stanley Global Automotive Week Awards Dinner Tuesday night at Cipriani in New York City.

The Founder's Award is a discretionary award presented at various times by the founder of J.D. Power and Associates that recognizes individuals or companies demonstrating dedication, commitment and sustained improvement in serving customers. In the 38-year history of J.D. Power and Associates, only 15 companies or individuals have previously received the award.

"Through Carlos Ghosn's exceptional leadership, Nissan Motor has made impressive financial achievements and outstanding sales improvements in the U.S. and global marketplace," Power said. "Nissan's customers clearly appreciate the new products and innovative sales programs that Mr. Ghosn and his Nissan-Infiniti team have implemented."

Nissan is a global automotive company with 140,000 employees and $80 billion in revenue. Ghosn joined the company as its chief operating officer in June 1999, became its president in June 2000 and was named chief executive officer in June 2001.

"It has been equally rewarding to note Nissan and Infiniti's dedication to quality improvement, which starts at the top with Carlos and permeates the entire organization," said Power. "Their dealers and vehicle owners are enjoying the benefits of the performance improvement initiatives implemented under his leadership. Carlos is a man of integrity, exceptional talent and perseverance."

On April 29, 2005, Ghosn was named president and chief executive officer of Renault S.A. in addition to his current responsibilities at Nissan. As head of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Ghosn is responsible for two separate companies with combined annual global sales of 5.7 million vehicles.

Under Ghosn's leadership, Nissan Motor increased its U.S. new-vehicle sales from 752,038 in 2000 to 1,076,667 in 2005, which resulted in a sales revenue growth of more than $8 billion and a market share growth from 4.3 percent to 6.4 percent over the same period. Renault-Nissan's global sales increased from 4,701,793 (8.3% market share) in 2000 to 5,735,704 (9.0% market share) in 2005.