Nissan's Sales Exec Shuffle: Can Meunier Do for Infiniti What He Did for Nissan?

Nissan has a new senior vice president in charge of U.S. sales and marketing. Dan Mohnke, the company’s former vice president of strategy and digital acceleration, was promoted to the role previously held by Christian Meunier.

Heading to Infiniti, Meunier will serve as the brand’s vice president for global marketing and sales operations. The position was created exclusively to help the brand’s expansion into new markets. Meunier will report directly to Roland Krueger, president of Infiniti Motor Company and senior vice president of Nissan’s global division. Meanwhile, Mohnke will report to José Muñoz, chief performance officer for Nissan Motor Co.

“During Christian’s tenure overseeing the Nissan brand in the U.S. and Canada, our team has set records in volume and share, taking advantage of strong growth in our world-class truck, SUV and crossover lineup,” said Muñoz in a statement. “I am confident that Dan [Mohnke] and Joni [Paiva] will maintain Nissan’s momentum in the U.S. and Canada, while Christian’s strong leadership will benefit Infiniti’s efforts to grow globally.”

Joining Nissan in 2006, Mohnke has only served as the company’s digital acceleration strategy head since May of 2017. He previously worked at General Motors as a Saturn executive.

Meunier has been with Nissan in 2002. He previously worked with Land Rover and served as product manager for Mercedes-Benz light trucks before taking on a myriad of executive roles within Nissan — including vice president of sales for Europe, vice president of marketing for all of North America, president responsible for Brazilian sales, and Nissan’s Canadian head.

All of the positions Meunier held at Nissan resulted in increased sales for the region. In the U.S., Nissan has posted annual sales growth since 2009, with the tally doubling since that year. As Infiniti sales are currently right where they were in the mid-2000s, the automaker believes he might be able to do the same for that brand.

The company specified both men represent an opportunity to further sales growth within their respective territories. Staffing changes are to take effect immediately.