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By William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

April 15, 2013

Well this is a bit of surprise. Last Friday, Nissan announced that Ram Trucks CEO Fred Diaz will become its new divisional vice president for sales and marketing. Diaz’s role at Nissan will have him oversee all sales and marketing for the U.S. market, which includes Nissan’s Commerical and Fleet division.

Since 2009, Diaz was the head of the Chrysler Group’s Ram division (established in 2009 as well). During Diaz’s tenure, Ram saw it sales rise and and taking home the North American Truck of the Year this year.

"Fred Diaz is one of the most experienced, results-driven sales and marketing executives in our industry, and we are privileged to welcome him to Nissan. As Nissan Division continues to grow in the United States, we expect Fred to convey a fresh perspective to our dealers and the entire divisional operations team that he will now lead," said José Muñoz, senior vice president, sales & marketing for Nissan Americas in a press release.

Source: Nissan

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected]or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

Press Release is on Page 2

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Fred M. Diaz Named Divisional Vice President, Nissan Sales & Marketing for Nissan Division in the U.S.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nissan today announced that Fred M. Diaz has been named to the newly formed position of divisional vice president, Nissan Sales & Marketing, Nissan U.S., reporting to José Muñoz, senior vice president, Sales & Marketing, Customer Quality and Dealer Network Development, Nissan Americas. Most recently, Diaz was president and chief executive officer - Ram Truck Brand, Chrysler Group, LLC as well as president and chief executive officer, Chrysler de Mexico.

In this new leadership role, Diaz will assume full responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the Nissan Division in the United States, including all sales, marketing, fixed operations, parts and service and administration functions. He will lead the Nissan Division team with the Marketing, Light Commercial Vehicle & Fleet, Parts & Service and Regional Operations functions reporting directly to him.

"Fred Diaz is one of the most experienced, results-driven sales and marketing executives in our industry, and we are privileged to welcome him to Nissan," said Muñoz. "As Nissan Division continues to grow in the United States, we expect Fred to convey a fresh perspective to our dealers and the entire divisional operations team that he will now lead."

Previously, Diaz was Chrysler's chief executive in charge of the Ram Truck Brand, a position to which he was named in October 2009. In 2011, Diaz was appointed as the chief executive of Chrysler's Mexican operations where he was the corporate representative responsible for all of the company's business brands in Mexico, including Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Mitsubishi.

During his 24-year career at Chrysler, Diaz progressed through a series of sales company roles beginning as a trainee and zone manager through to the head of national sales and, ultimately, CEO of the Ram brand. He has extensive automotive experience across the sales, field operations, distribution, service and marketing arenas.

Diaz is a respected executive in the automotive industry who has overseen a period of tremendous growth at the Ram brand. In addition to the Ram brand's 17 percent sales increase in 2012, he was instrumental in leading the brand to win the 2013 'North American Truck of the Year' award for the new Ram 1500 pickup truck.

Diaz earned a bachelor's degree in management with an emphasis in psychology from Texas Lutheran University and a master's degree in business management from Central Michigan University.

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What a sad day for Ram, bummer, but I have a gut feeling there were some major politics going on with the Euro Owners.