Nissan PH marketing VP promoted to head Nissan Korea Co. Ltd.

S.J. Huh: loved and respected by the Philippine motoring media

The Philippine auto industry was surprised last week to learn that S.J. Huh, Nissan Philippines Inc.’s (NPI) vice president of marketing, sales and dealer development, is leaving at the end of the month to assume the presidency of Nissan Korea Co. after only three years and three months (October 2013-January 2017) in this country.

For the motoring media, this was sad news since S.J., as he is fondly called, has earned their respect and friendship.

In fact, S.J. Huh is the first Korean expatriate of a major Japanese car manufacturer doing business in the Philippines to reach first-name status with the media. His energy and enthusiasm on the job have worked as a charm offensive for the Nissan brand.

In an online interview, S.J. Huh, who turns 43 this March, admitted having definitely mixed feelings about leaving NPI: sad, happy and nervous.

He said he felt “sad because I would leave the Philippines where I’ve enjoyed a lot working with people—the NPI team, media friends, Nissan dealers and customers, especially Nissan Car Club members—where the automotive industry has been growing fast, resulting in giving so many opportunities for all automotive brands including Nissan, and lastly because the country is beautiful but I discovered only some but not the whole bit.”

At the same time he is happy to return to Korea since he has been away from his home country for the last six years: “I would really like to catch up with my family, friends and colleagues in Nissan Korea.”

A big step up

And he is nervous, yet excited: “I’m well aware that to become the president of Nissan Korea is a big step up for me considering where I am today. I anticipate this job will be very challenging. However, I’m very excited to take on this position because this role is something I’ve wanted to do at some point of time from Day One when I started my career in Nissan Korea back in 2005. Now, I’m returning to where I started, and am all charged up to take on new challenges.”

A graduate of Political Science at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul in 2000 who took a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems at the University of Oklahoma in the United States in 2002, S.J. Huh began working for Nissan Korea Co. Ltd. in 2005 as assistant manager in dealer operations and sales training.

He rose through the ranks quickly, was appointed regional product manager for New Zealand at Nissan Motor Co. in Australia in 2011, and later senior launch manager there before arriving in Manila as NPI’s general manager of marketing.

In September 2016, he was promoted to his present position of NPI vice president of marketing, sales and dealer development.

Year-by-year performance

As GM of NPI marketing, S.J. says his biggest task was to promote the Nissan brand in the Philippines the way it’s been done globally.

“In other words, since NPI’s inception, NPI has been communicating Nissan as a brand full of innovation and excitement through our new product launches, exciting marketing communications and programs, and better customer service offerings.”

SJ’s success in marketing the Nissan brand is reflected in NPI’s year-by-year performance from March 1, 2014 when NPI replaced Nissan Motor Philippines Inc. to the end of year 2016.

(NPI records sales by financial year (FY) starting from April 1 and ending on March 31 the following year.)

FY13 (April 2013-March 2014, before NPI’s inception) – 7,692 units

FY14 (April 2014 -March 2015, NPI’s 1st year) – 8,062 units

FY15 (April 2015-March 2016, NPI’s 2nd year) – 12,610 units

9 months of FY16, NPI’s 3rd year, April 2016-December 2016) – 13,252 units

(Note: The figures above are the same as CAMPI’s.)

Part of the reason why S.J. is popular with the motoring media and why he was appointed by Nissan, a global company that operates in more than 150 countries, to expat positions in English-speaking markets is his fluency in the English language.

He attributes this fluency to his university days in the US and his three-year stint in Australia, aside from using English for business correspondence all the time.

Staying with Nissan

Having worked for Nissan the last 12 years, S.J. looks forward to staying in Nissan “as long as I can contribute to the company and continue growing with the company. It has been exciting to work in Nissan as I always feel that I’ve been challenged, and that I’ve been growing with the company.”

He confides that when he happened to join the auto industry, he fell in love with the industry “because the product (vehicle) is exciting, the scale of business is huge, and the impact on people is significant.

“As a result, I’m so certain that I’ll retire from the auto industry—hopefully, from Nissan, of course.”

Regarding the outlook for the Philippine automotive market in 2017, S.J. Huh expressed confidence that its performance will continue to be strong despite some unknown factors including anticipated government regulation changes.

S.J. Huh is bullish that NPI, “as we have done for the last three years since its inception, will try its best to keep the current growing momentum ongoing, or even accelerated further so that we can grow faster than the industry.”