PAUL O’NEILL, EV Category Manager at Nissan Motor (GB), has been promoted to the role of Qashqai Product Manager at Nissan Europe.
For the past two and a half years, Paul has headed up Nissan GB’s electric vehicle team, playing an instrumental role in the brand’s dominance of the sector and the success of both the LEAF and e-NV200.
This was best demonstrated last year when the LEAF clocked up 4,051 sales in the UK, more than doubling the volume sold in 2013 (1,812) and finishing ahead of target.
As a result, Paul was presented with a prestigious Nissan Chairman’s Award earlier this month.
Before leaving Paul, who has worked for Nissan (GB) for more than 15 years, said: “ I’d like to thank everybody for all of the support and happy memories that I have had in my time with NMGB.
“Never has this been more true than in the world of EV. My family has now clocked up more than 37,000 EV miles and I’ve seen huge changes in the EV landscape in terms of market, infrastructure and press and public acceptance over the last couple of years.”
He added: “Although moving to a non-EV role, I am convinced that electric remains a fantastic solution in terms of driving experience, running costs, clean air, customer satisfaction and of course the benefit it brings to our brand, with LEAF being the number one model driving positive opinion of Nissan.
“Our Zero Emission technologies are something we should all be very proud of, and I am tremendously proud that Nissan has continued, and will continue, to extend its lead in this area.”
Paul will be succeeded by Robert Tweedie, who will be familiar to many readers, having held a number of operational roles with NMGB in both sales and aftersales.
He said “I am looking forward to building on the great work done by Paul over the last couple of years and working closely with our strategic partners to continue the Nissan brand’s dominance of the electric vehicle market.”