Nissan has appointed Tom Stampaert as Country Performance Manager for Belgium and Luxembourg. The title may sound less senior than the former ‘Country Manager’ label, but the job is substantial. Stampaert will lead Nissan’s commercial activities in both countries and work closely with the local organization and dealer network.
He arrives at a difficult moment. Belgian Nissan registrations fell to 3,563 cars over the first eight months of 2026, down 38.5% from 5,789 in the same period last year.
Market share dropped from 1.98% to just 1.24%. In August alone, Nissan registered only 189 cars, 51.5% fewer than a year earlier, while the total Belgian passenger-car market actually grew by 8.3%.
A retail man for a retail problem
Stampaert brings more than 25 years of automotive experience. Most recently, he spent three years as Managing Director of Porsche Center East-Flanders, overseeing strategy, commercial performance and the dealership’s overall management.
Before that, he spent more than two decades at Mercedes-Benz Belgium-Luxembourg in senior jobs covering sales, financial services, dealer operations and fleet.
That background seems particularly relevant for Nissan. The Japanese brand says Stampaert must strengthen its position in Belgium and Luxembourg while supporting its transition toward electrification.
His practical experience with dealer networks and retail performance may prove as useful as his premium-brand background.
Local boss under a regional structure
Stampaert is not Nissan’s highest-ranking executive in the region. Belgium and Luxembourg are part of Nissan eNEST, created in 2025 by bringing the Benelux together with Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The six-country operation is headed by Jean-Philippe Roux, Managing Director eNEST Benelux & Scandinavia.
That regionalization also helps explain the somewhat unusual ‘Country Performance Manager’ title. Strategic functions are increasingly organized across several countries, while Stampaert’s assignment is explicitly focused on translating those plans into local commercial results.
He effectively succeeds Danny Olemans, who was promoted to Country Manager Nissan Belux in April 2025 but recently returned to automotive retail at Groep Kenis, where he now heads the Antwerp operation.
New cars have yet to turn the tide
Nissan’s decline is much steeper than the Belgian market as a whole, which was down only 1.4% through August. Chinese newcomers have meanwhile overtaken the long-established Japanese brand: MG registered 6,185 cars and BYD 5,726, compared with Nissan’s 3,563.
The problem is not exclusively Belgian. In Nissan’s fiscal first quarter, European retail sales fell 14.6%, which the company attributed to intense competition and portfolio optimization.
The timing of Stampaert’s arrival is therefore crucial. Nissan entered 2026 promising a product offensive, centered on the new electric Micra and Leaf, the latest Qashqai e-Power and further electrified models.
In Belgium, where battery-electric cars reached a record 46.2% of registrations in August, that should theoretically play to Nissan’s strengths as a pioneer of mass-market EVs.
So far, however, the renewed range has not reversed the sales slide. That makes Stampaert’s appointment more than an ordinary management reshuffle.
His first major challenge will be converting Nissan’s long-promised product renewal into Belgian registrations and recovering some of the market share lost in 2026.
