Crown Motors, the new Nissan dealer in Kenya, has fired its CEO Chris
Angell over what the board termed as failure to meet set targets.
Mr Angell, a former DT Dobie executive who joined Crown in August
last year , left the company two weeks ago.
“We had a vision for the company in terms of sales and market share. After six months, those targets had not been met. We mutually agreed to part ways (with Mr Angell),” Solomon Osundwa, a director of Crown told the Business Daily in an interview.
According to Mr.Osundwa,the firm has already started searching for a new CEO to steer the company which took over the Nissan franchise from DT Dobie last year.
“We are looking for an experienced person with a good knowledge of the Kenyan automotive business,” Mr Zubedi said.
The Crown directors did not say the exact unit sales the new company is targeting. Sales of Nissan pick-ups, vans and cars last peaked at 1,140 units in 2013 under DT Dobie, according to statistics from the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI).
The transition from DT Dobie to Crown was however bound to hurt Nissan sales which more than halved to 564 units last year, most of which were clearance sales by the former franchise holder.
Mr Angell’s stint at Crown is one of the shortest in the competitive new vehicle market. He had helped set up the company, including overseeing investments in a showroom and service centres in Nairobi and Mombasa.
