FRANKLIN, Tenn. -

Nissan revealed a few shifts in the senior leadership of the sales, marketing, communication and purchasing organizations within its Americas region, including a new director of customer and sales satisfaction.

Named to that post is Billy Hayes, who is the current director of market representation and strategy. He has been with Nissan since 2004. Hayes’ duties in the new post will be to ensure the Nissan and Infiniti brands achieve high satisfaction levels for sales and customer service.

Replacing Hayes will be David Kershaw, who will become director of market representation. Kershaw currently serves as senior manager of market representation strategy.

In the new role, he will be tasked generating increases in the sales and service penetration throughout the company’s U.S. dealer body. Kershaw has been with Nissan since 1992.

Moving along, the company also named Erich Marx as director of social media and interactive marketing. Marx’s current role is as director of Nissan marketing communications.

In the new position, Marx — who has been with Nissan for 20 years — will be asked to lead social-media efforts for the company as well as take on responsibilities for its online presence.

Taking his place as director of Nissan marketing communications is Bill Peffer, who currently serves as director of Nissan marketing operations.

Peffer — who has been with Nissan since 2006 — will be called to head up the Nissan brand’s U.S. advertising and lifestyle campaigns.

Moving over to the purchasing organization, the automaker appointed Gary Zoller to the role of director of powertrain purchasing to replace Rebecca Vest, who was appointed vice president of purchasing for the Renault-Nissan Purchasing Organization.

His current position is senior manager of purchasing. Zoller’s duties in the new role include leading the powertrain purchasing and program management activities at Nissan Americas.

His time with Nissan goes back to 1995.

Each of the aforementioned appointments is effective April 1.

“These management changes are part of Nissan’s ongoing efforts to align leadership talent with opportunities for growth and increased operational efficiencies,” stated Nissan Americas chairman Carlos Tavares. “A strong organization begins with a strong leadership team — and, given the quality of the people who are leading our company, I am confident about our future.”

Nissan North America Appoints Two Dealerships

In other news from the company, Penske Automotive Group has been awarded two dealerships in downtown San Francisco by Nissan North America, the automaker announced. 

The Nissan and Infiniti stores will share a seven-story 195,000-square-foot complex that already exists at 1395 Van Ness Ave. Coinciding with a full renovation, the opening of the facility will occur sometime later in 2011.

The dealership will include a state-of-the-art sales, service and parts operation and will also feature an on-site paint and collision-repair center.

Once it is fully operational, the dealerships will have include indoor vehicle storage and separate showrooms for each brand.

The facility — the historic Ellis Brooks building — already has an automotive history, officials noted. The building used to be home to one of the biggest-selling dealerships on the West Coast and started selling cars in 1939.

Officials said it is “tailor-made for automotive retailing” with its showroom space as well as a plethora of indoor levels for showcasing models and for service, repair and body shop departments.

"We are very excited to award the Penske Automotive Group with our Nissan and Infiniti dealerships in downtown San Francisco,” stated Tavares.

“San Francisco is a key market for our future growth — especially for zero-emission vehicles like the Nissan LEAF as well as our Infiniti brand — and these two dealerships will help to grow our presence in a very important West Coast market,” he added.

Penske Automotive Group chairman Roger Penske added: “We are thrilled with the opportunity to represent the Nissan and Infiniti brands in such a historic site in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nissan and Infiniti are dedicated to developing efficient and inspiring vehicles.

“We look forward to enhancing the market share of each brand while fostering a high level of customer service and satisfaction through this one-of-a-kind dealership location,” he continued.