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Published on August 8, 2007

Living in a foreign country is a lot different from visiting for a holiday. It is a universal truth: realities you are unaware of when shopping as a tourist come alive when you live somewhere.

These were the feelings of Thierry Viadieu, president of Siam Nissan Thailand.

"I came to Thailand in November 2006 but had visited many times before as a tourist and on business. My posting in Japan for seven years, which came as a result of the alliance between Renault and Nissan, did not completely prepare me for Thailand.

"I guess the difference between Europe and Japan is less when compared with Europe and Thailand. This, however, exists more or less between any two countries," Viadieu added.

Besides cultural differences, Viadieu also expected problems with Nissan in Thailand to be dealt with more easily.

"No, I did not expect to walk in and change things in one day, but I did expect to make a significant difference faster. It's also possible that my slightly optimistic personality lead me to believe that things would be better," he added.

Since joining Renault in 1988, Viadieu has worked in different positions, starting off as a research-and-development engineer and then moving to corporate planning.

"My start as an R-and-D engineer definitely gives me an advantage in the way I think when it comes to corporate planning. The best way to explain it would be that when you are a researcher, you are somewhat dealing with the unknown and when it comes to corporate strategy you are dealing with the future. The idea is to use what is currently available to produce a better or predictable result," Viadieu explained.

Since he took over, Nissan has launched its bread-and-butter model , the Navara pickup. A new marketing plan is in place for the Tiida. The company has set it sights on a 10- to 15-per-cent share of the pickup market this year. Its current share is at about 9 per cent. He added that results were satisfactory, considering current market conditions.

"The market for automobiles is obviously down, and different carmakers clearly have different plans on what they are going to do. Some brands are providing big incentives, which to some extent is destructive marketing, but it is possible they have large stocks to clear. Others are providing a buy-back policy where older cars are traded in for new ones," Viadieu said.

The problem with trade-ins is that the story does not end there. Car companies need to figure out what to do with the used vehicles, which possibly means they have to open up a second-hand car dealership.

Such tactics can be dangerous for the company because they create lots of sales without taking into account that more than half the revenue has been lost due to the returned vehicles.

Nissan's new marketing plan for the Tiida has ML Nattakorn Devakula as the brand ambassador on billboards around Bangkok. "The Tiida is not an 'obvious' vehicle. What I mean by that is that it is a vehicle that you need to get used to to truly appreciate. It is a vehicle that people have to experience. The fact that we now have ML Nattakorn promoting it means that we have people actually listening to the advertisements and showing interest. Sales figures clearly indicate this," he added.

Viadieu added that Nissan was discussing the eco-car project, although a decision had not been reached as details were not completely clear. He said a decision to produce the eco-car would be made at company headquarters. The model will have to be exported due to a government requirement to reach production of 100,000 in five years.

Vijo Varghese

The Nation