Nissan Motor Company on Friday said it has appointed Akira Sakurai as the managing director and CEO of Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd (RNAIPL) and has made a few more changes in the management to establish itself as one of the major players in the country.

Sakurai is currently the general manager of the vehicle production engineering division and his appointment comes into effect from April 1, Nissan said.

Besides, Kiminobu Tokuyama, current managing director and COO of NMIPL, has been appointed to the position of managing director and CEO of the company, it said.

Meanwhile, Shohei Kimura, current CEO of Nissan Motor India Private Limited (NMIPL) and Managing Director and CEO of RNAIPL will return to Nissan in Japan and is promoted to corporate vice-president, new vehicle production development division.

Commenting on the management changes in India, Colin Dodge, senior vice-president of Nissan, said: "Our objective in India is to establish Nissan as one of the major players in the domestic market in the next few years as well as playing role of the export hub for global markets."

Nissan plans to roll out its first locally-manufactured vehicles in India in 2010, the release said.