Nissan Names New President for Siam Nissan Automobile

BANGKOK, Thailand - October 22, 2006: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd announced on Friday that Thierry Viadieu has been named president of Siam Nissan Automobile (SNA). He succeeds Kosaku Hosokawa, who will be returning to NML headquarters in Japan.

Thierry Viadieu

In his new position, effective November 1, Viadieu will manage the overall operations and management of the Nissan business in Thailand. He will also continue to serve as corporate vice president at NML, where he will be in-charge of GOM operation for ASEAN countries. Prior to his appointment at SNA, Viadieu was the corporate vice president in-charge of Corporate Planning, Best Practices and Competitive Intelligence. Viadieu joined Nissan in 1999 after working for several years at Renault where he held several positions in the engineering department.

Hosokawa joined Nissan in 1979, he worked in the finance and overseas marketing departments before moving to Thailand. Hosokawa was named president of SNA in April 2004 when Nissan raised its stakes in order to better position the Nissan brand for growth in the ASEAN region.

“During his years at SNA, Hosokawa has provided support in setting-up the base for Nissan’s business efforts through extremely challenging times,” said Yasuaki Hashimoto, corporate vice president, sales and marketing, Asia and Oceania division.

In Thailand, Nissan's operations include automotive sales and marketing, distribution, and manufacturing. SNA has an annual production capacity of 130,000 units. Its main models include the Tiida Sedan, Tiida Hatchback, Frontier Pick-up and Teana.

The change in corporate officers will be proposed and approved at the Board Meeting scheduled on October 26.