NISSAN Australia has announced the appointment of Chang-hwan (CH) Lee as managing director of Infiniti Cars Australia amid several senior management moves at the Australian subsidiary of the Japanese brand.

Three Nissan Australia general managers – Craig Clarke (sales), Simon Taylor (legal) and Peter Fadeyev (corporate communications) – have all been promoted to roles at Nissan Asia and Oceania.

Mr Clarke becomes senior vice-president of sales based in Thailand, Mr Taylor rises to vice-president of compliance for the region, based in Melbourne, and Mr Fadeyev becomes general manager of product communications, also remaining in Melbourne.

Their replacements at Nissan Australia are still to be announced.

Meanwhile, Mr Lee has moved to Melbourne from Infiniti Korea to replace Jean-Philippe Roux as the head of Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti here.

Mr Roux has been appointed chief marketing manager for Russian-market products at Nissan Europe, returning to France after almost two-and-a-half years in Australia.

He was previously regional director of Infiniti’s southern Europe region, and in Australia has overseen the fledgling luxury brand’s growth as new models come to market and its retail network expands.

Sales have risen from 574 in 2015 to 807 units last year, with 285 to the end of March marking a 49.2 per cent increase this year.

Mr Lee likewise had a hand in building the Infiniti brand in South Korea since joining the company in 2004, working in a variety of roles spanning sales, marketing, aftersales and public relations.

He has spent the past two years as chief executive of the brand in Korea, where he has now handed over to former sales chief Seung-won Kang.

Mr Kang will work closely with Nissan Korea Co president Sung-joong Huh, who was appointed in January after rising through the ranks over the past 12 years in a variety of roles, including sales, marketing and dealer development positions in markets including Australia and the Philippines.

According to Korean media reports, Nissan/Infiniti was last year the subject of an investigation into vehicle emissions cheating – launched by the Korean Ministry of Environment in the wake of the global Volkswagen dieselgate probe – that saw the Japanese company fined 340 million won ($A398,000) and sales of the Nissan Qashqai suspended.

The Infiniti Q50 was also found to have circumvented emissions results.

In announcing the management changes this week, Nissan Australia managing director and CEO Richard Emery highlighted the strengthening presence of Australian team members working in overseas posts for alliance brands.

“The Renault-Nissan Alliance is home to a large pool of talented people and many of them can be found in its Australian operations,” he said.

“It’s great to see more of our local high-performers joining other Australian colleagues already working in Nissan, Renault and Infiniti markets such as Europe, Japan, North America and South-East Asia.

“It’s further proof of the important role Australia plays in the global Renault-Nissan Alliance and its reputation as a talent development hub.”

By Terry Martin