Johan de Nysschen has made the jump from Infiniti to beyond... the 'beyond' being luxury GM brand, Cadillac.
Until very recently, South African-born de Nysschen was the president of Infiniti – a luxury brand on the march to snare increased sales worldwide, through new product and expanded market penetration. Between 1993 and his start two years ago with Infiniti, de Nysschen had worked for Audi in various capacities: heading up the US arm as CEO for eight years, five years as president in Japan, and in his native land before that. Prior to '93 de Nysschen had also worked for BMW in South Africa.
At Cadillac de Nysschen will oversee global sales, pricing, network development, strategic development of the brand, marketing and product portfolio planning. In his new role he will shape Cadillac's future products by means of input during the R&D process. According to American industry journal, Automotive News, when de Nysschen joined Audi USA "a decade ago," its sales were roughly one third of Cadillac's. As de Nysschen joins the GM brand now, Audi is set to overtake Cadillac.
During his time at Infiniti, de Nysschen is credited with introducing the new model nomenclature and establishing the brand as a separate branch of Nissan – with more autonomy to make decisions about marketing and product. In his latest job role he is moving from one of the world's youngest prestige brands to one of the world's oldest.
Cadillac has appointed de Nysschen at a time when the historic GM division – which predates GM, in fact, having opened its doors in 1902 – is looking to be relevant once more in the luxury and prestige markets around the world. The signs are there in the product range – first the sporty CTS model and more recently the smaller ATS... a rival for the BMW 3 Series. Slightly smaller than Holden's VE/VF Commodore, the CTS has been the one Cadillac prior to the ATS with potential to raise brand awareness in markets other than North America, although the car and the company were ruled out for Australia at the 11th hour during the depths of the GFC. Since then, there has been speculation Cadillac will establish itself in Australia after all – that speculation made a little more credible by Holden's announcement it will cease building the Commodore from 2017. Even without representation in Australia, Cadillac is claimed by GM to be the "fastest-growing luxury brand worldwide," sales increasing by 30 per cent in 2013. That sales increase would be largely due to the introduction of the ATS, but media outlets in North America report sales of the small Cadillac amounted to about 21 per cent (38,319) of the brand's total sales in America (182,543) last year. Furthermore, it's also reported, transaction prices for the ATS fall a long way short of those for the archrival from Munich.
Facing the risk that the company's recent surge in sales will stall, de Nysschen's appointment seems timely, although he was allegedly "drafted" by former GM CEO Dan Akerson as long ago as 2012.
"Johan brings to our company vast experience in the development and proper execution of luxury automotive brands," said Dan Ammann, GM President.
"With over 20 years in this exact space, especially in the development of the Audi brand, his track record proves he is the perfect executive to lead Cadillac for the long term."