Sunny Days Ahead - Kenichiro Yomura, President, Nissan India Operations and MD & CEO - Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd

It has been about 17 months since Kenichiro Yomura or Yomura-San, as he is fondly called, took charge as the President, Nissan India Operations and MD & CEO, Nissan Motor India Private Limited.

And while Nissan is far from its set targets in India, Yomura-San's leadership has already started having the desired impact. Nissan India has registered a robust growth of 60.3 percent in August 2014 compared to the August 2013 numbers.

In fact, the financial year-to-date comparison sales numbers are still better at 116.2 percent! Of course, in terms of volumes, Nissan India has a long way to go (August 2014: 3,999 and FY2014 to date: 21,596) and this Nissan lifer is well aware of that.

Having spent his entire career spanning more than three decades at Nissan, Yomura has worked in different markets like North America, China, the Middle East and, of course, Japan.

Riding on this diverse and collective experience, he has been handling the India stint quite well but he understands that the Indian market is quite different from anywhere he has worked before. Notwithstanding the challenges, he looks at the positive side. "The Indian market has a big growth potential and the customer base is very demanding with diversified needs. It is always exciting for me to work in the fast-growing market, trying to understand and accommodate the customers' expectations and requirements that would change over time," he says.

While growth has come back to Nissan India, it will really have to accelerate to fulfil its ambition of grabbing 10 per cent share in the Indian automotive market by 2017. "Our objective remains unchanged, to be a major player in the Indian market which is very important to Nissan, with a ten percent market share. We have a plan to achieve it but like any other business plan it has to be adapted over time. But make no mistake, our direction and goal remains the same," Yomura says with certain confidence.

His confidence comes from the fact that India is a huge and growing market. "There are only 15 cars here per 1,000 people which points to the potential despite short term challenges for the economy."

About Yomura-San
As the President of Nissan India Operations and the MD and CEO of Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd, Kenichiro Yomura oversees manufacturing, R&D and joint venture businesses. He is responsible for developing strategies to maximise Nissan's business performance, managing product introduction and significantly increasing the presence and accessibility of the Nissan brand through continuing network expansion. Prior to his current position, Yomura served as the General Manager at the Global Head Quarters with overall responsibility to manage Nissan's business in Middle East Region. Since joining Nissan in 1982, he has held various roles of increasing seniority across numerous functions in the US, China, Japan and the Middle East.

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