SATORU TAI NAMED VICE-PRESIDENT OF NISSAN DESIGN EUROPE
(London – 7 October, 2003) - Nissan has announced the appointment of Satoru Tai as Vice-President of Nissan Design Europe (NDE), the company’s new vehicle design studio in Paddington, London. The appointment is effective 1 October, 2003.
In his new role, 44-year old Satoru Tai will head Nissan’s European design team in London. He will report directly to Shiro Nakamura, President of Nissan Design Europe and Senior Vice President of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. who is based in Japan.
A graduate in Production Design from the University of Tsukuba, Satoru Tai joined Nissan in the Design Department in 1982. He has since held a number of positions in Design and Product Planning, including a 4-year assignment at Nissan Research and Development Inc. in the United States. In 1988, he undertook post-experience training in the Transport Design department of the Royal College of Art in London.
In 2000, Mr Tai became the Product Chief Designer in charge of the Micra/ March and Cube models. Following its launch in Japan last year, the March (Japanese sister model of the Micra) became the highest selling Nissan model sold in Japan for the last 12 years. The new Nissan Micra, built in the UK and launched in Europe in January 2003, has also had a promising start, recording sales of more than 100,000 units in its first 8 months. The asymmetrically-designed Cube, which is sold exclusively in the Japanese market, has also enjoyed strong demand, recording sales of over 47,000 units since the start of this fiscal year in April.
NDE opened in January 2003 and is home to over 50 international designers, modellers and support staff. The studio’s mission is to design the next generation of Nissan cars for Europe. It will also be involved in global design projects and play a strategically important role in Nissan’s creative network comprising six design studios worldwide.
Nissan employs around 12,000 people in its European design, research and development, manufacturing, logistics, sales and marketing operations. Last year, the company sold 474,000 vehicles in Europe.
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For further information, please contact :
Frank Shepherd +33 1 30 13 67 65
Nissan Europe Communications
fshepherd@nissan-europe.com
Wayne Bruce 01923 899930
Head of Press and PR
Wayne.bruce@nissan.co.uk