With De Nysschen, Nissan's Infiniti Has Its Hands In Audi's Secret Sauce

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Managers of premium auto brands keep asking themselves (and sometime me): “What is the secret of Audi’s success?” 30 years ago, Audi had an image worse than Opel. Last April, Audi outsold Bavarian rival BMW for the first time on a global basis. These days, any large automaker that has a luxury division seeks to emulate Audi’s success. Now, Nissan’s Infiniti could be one step closer to getting its hands in Audi’s elusive secret sauce. They hired one of Audi’s key men.

Last weekend, Johan de Nysschen left his job as president of Audi of America. It was the same weekend when Volkswagen announced a major management reshuffle. According to the Wall Street Journal, “it was unclear if he left as a result of the shuffling or had accepted another company’s offer.” Maybe, it was both.

Nysschen submitted to the advances of a sometimes very persuasive Carlos Ghosn, and will run Nissan’s Infiniti division effective July 2012. Nysschen will switch from Herndon in the suburbs of Washington, DC, to the bustle of Hong Kong, where Infiniti opened its world headquarters a few weeks ago. Nysschen will be a Senior Vice President of Nissan, and he will be reporting to a Nissan Executive Vice President, Nissan’s multi-role Andy Palmer (product planning, business strategy, marketing communications “and responsible for Infiniti.”)

South Africa born de Nysschen is quite familiar with Japan. Before moving to America, he headed up Audi of Japan for five years. Here he made headlines by cutting ties with Toyota, which at the time distributed a good deal of Volkswagen and Audi cars in Japan. Eventually, this led to the end of Volkswagen’s Japanese distribution agreement with Toyota.

Looking at de Nysschen’s new SVP title, one of the many facets of Audi’s success becomes evident. Volkswagen’s brands are rigorously separated, even if it is at the sometimes high cost of massively duplicated functionality. Audi and Volkswagen are even more separated than most Volkswagen Group brands. Audi is a distinct corporation in its own right, with its own management, even its shares are publicly traded. Commonalities between cars and group companies are well-hidden in the realm of the Volkswagen Group. If Infiniti would be Audi, de Nysschen would be the company’s Vorstandsvorsitzender, or President and Chairman of the Board of Management.

De Nysschen has his job cut out for himself. According to the WSJ, “Infiniti in some ways occupies the same territory as Audi a decade or two ago, with a weak identity among car shoppers and designs that lack distinction.” Which illustrates the dangerous late effects of branding sins: Two decades ago, Audi, led by a strong and strict Ferdinand Piech, already had found its own identity, which became even stronger once Piech took over at Volkswagen and gave his old power base in Ingolstadt completely free rein. But it took a decade until the WSJ noticed it.

Nysschen probably has changed jobs at the right time. Volkswagen’s massive management reshuffle on a global scale indicates that someone is worried in Wolfsburg. The Volkswagen Group is heading into rough waters at home in Europe. Today, further management changes were announced, and more men are likely to go overboard. The last decade was a decade of German carmakers. Their luck could be running out.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Davekaybsc Davekaybsc on Jun 06, 2012

    The final generation Q45 was a disaster. It was absolutely hideous, and pretty much the entire marketing materials focused on its amazing "Gatling gun" headlights. Much like the unloved first generation M, the prime real estate on the center stack was reserved for the CASSETTE DECK. In 2001-2. They thought the most important thing on the dash should be easy access for cassette tapes, in brand new, flagship luxury cars. Just mind bogglingly out of date thinking. These cars also introduced Infiniti's odd sloping upper dash full of buttons, which they are still using and to my eye is still ugly and still doesn't work. The other major thing that Infiniti still can't get right is their suspension tuning. They are styling their cars for the big 20" wheels, and when you actually order them that way, the ride is rock hard and completely unacceptable for a luxury car buyer. The only other option is the totally undersized 18" toy wheels.

  • JonKessler JonKessler on Jun 07, 2012

    Infiniti certainly "covets the four rings" as TTAC once said. Granted, the G/M sedans are nondescript and the QX 56 is a beastly Armada with analog dash clock. But "nothing distinctive?" The EX (which I bought in 2008 and still enjoy) begat the entire "Luxury AMC Pacer of he 21st Century" segment: Audi Q5 / VW Tiguan, X1, and more to come. The FX isn't my cup of tea but, to quote TTAC, it's "carved from a block of sex." Makes more sense to me than the built for high speed off-roading / driven by soccer moms Cayenne.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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