• by Tanya Gazdik , January 17, 2024

Nissan North America has named Vinay Shahani as senior vice president, U.S. marketing and sales.

Shahani, currently vice president of marketing at Lexus USA, replaces Mike Colleran, who is retiring from Nissan after more than 12 years in top regional and global leadership positions.

As senior vice president, Shahani will be responsible for all sales and marketing activities for the Nissan brand in the United States. Shahani will also have oversight of Infiniti Americas. His appointment is effective Jan. 18.

Shahani's work history includes nearly a decade at Nissan North America. After starting in a job as an engineering manager at the Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant in 2004, he quickly moved into a managerial role within the company's marketing and sales function. From there, he held a roles of increasing responsibility including in sales operations and marketing communications.

He has held the top marketing position at Lexus since 2021. Previously, he spent four years as vice president, integrated marketing operations, Toyota North America. Toyota recently hired a new top U.S. marketer, promoting Michael Tripp to replace Lisa Materazzo, who moved to Ford Motor Co.’s top marketing position. 

From 2013 to 2017 Shahani was senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Volkswagen of America.

Colleran joined Nissan in 2011 as vice president of sales for Nissan Canada, and then moved to oversee Nissan's northeast region in the U.S. 

He also held leadership positions overseeing the Infiniti brand, first as group vice president for Infiniti Americas, and then as global divisional vice president and vice chairman for Infiniti Motor Company, Ltd. He returned to the U.S. as Nissan senior vice president, U.S. marketing and sales in 2020.