Nissan appoints Euro marketer as UK head

Nissan has appointed its European marketing chief Paul Wilcox to run the marque in the UK. He replaces Gary Frigo, who is leaving after two years to return to the US.

Wilcox, who is vice-president of marketing for Nissan Europe, joins Nissan Motor GB (NMGB) as managing director at the end of March. He is a former NMGB marketing director, but was promoted to run Nissan’s marketing and advertising across Europe at the end of 2005. He has been with the company for 17 years.

Frigo joined NMGB two years ago (MW March 16, 2006) to replace Bill Bosley, who left to take a senior role at Nissan North America (NNA). Frigo is now making a similar move, becoming regional vice-president for the North-east region of NNA.

During his time with NMGB, Frigo oversaw the launch of the Qashqai, which Nissan claims was its most successful model launch ever. Frigo adds that he leaves with the dealer franchise’s sales and profit “on the upswing”.

Last year, Nissan handed global brand responsibility to its communications chief Simon Sproule (MW January 18, 2007) following the departure of Steve Wilhite in 2006.

It also named Vincent Wijnen as GB marketing director to replace Justin Elias, who returned to Renault UK after 18 months with Nissan.