Coming from a strong three-year stint that saw sales rise 58 percent or three times the industry average, Nissan Philippines’s president and managing director, Ramesh Narasimhan is moving to a new challenge in Thailand where he is being appointed as the president of Nissan Thailand. Replacing the well-loved Narasimhan is Atsushi Najima.
At a symbolic turnover ceremony, Najima-san took the keys from Narasimhan. Najima-san will have big shoes to fill as Nissan Philippines bucked the trend of a softening car market last year. As the Philippine automotive sales slid 15 percent last year, Nissan was the only automaker that posted a double-digit growth; as a matter of fact, they were only one of two that posted any growth at all.
Still, Najima-san has the credentials to do well. Before his stint in the Philippines, Najima-san was the deputy general manager of Nissan’s regional financial management group in Japan. Prior to this, he spent 18 years at Procter & Gamble across Asia, holding various finance and general management roles in the Philippines, Singapore, and Japan.
In his new role, Atsushi will be responsible for developing business strategies to maximize Nissan’s overall performance, managing product introductions, and expanding the availability of the Nissan brand in the Philippines under its midterm plan Nissan M.O.V.E. to 2022.
With Najima-san’s rich experience in managing teams across multiple countries, the confidence is strong that Nissan Philippines will continue its strong growth trajectory.
