If America had a Poster Boy Truck Guy it’d be Fred Diaz. I think ARB models their bumpers on his jawline. He’s also knowledgeable on the subject and Nissan putting him in charge of trucks and light commercial vehicles means they’re getting serious about selling some pickups.

Diaz was President and CEO of Ram as it broke off into its own brand from Dodge in 2009, leading that operation to relevance and running Chrysler’s Mexican operations until 2013 when he got drafted by Nissan as Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Today Nissan created the role of Division Vice President and General Manager, North America Trucks and Light Commercial Vehicles and stuck Diaz in there, effectively putting him at the helm of the company’s utility efforts. Nissan calls this a “key opportunity area... with the launch of the all-new TITAN XD and other truck products.”

Could those “other trucks” be an all-new Frontier, or something else entirely in Nissan’s strategy of disruption in the truck space? Comeooon American market Kei-truck!

Diaz will be reporting directly to Christian Meunier (who’s also just been promoted to Senior Vice President, Nissan Sales & Marketing and Operations, NNA) giving him significant authority to shape the company’s future in the utility space.

Those and other will be effective as soon as 2016 begins.

Image via Nissan

Contact the author at .