Nissan, the number one selling automotive brand in Mexico continues to make major inroads to increase it’s dominant market share for U.S. Latinos. Key to the brand’s growth is Jeremy Tucker, vice president, Marketing Communications and Media, a position to which he was appointed in September 2014. In this role he is responsible for marketing, communications, and media; along with model line/product marketing with focus on revenue growth and profit generation for the Nissan brand and its dealer network. We spoke to the energetic executive about Nissan’s future plans and their exciting lineup, including the relaunched GT-R. 

Tucker joined Nissan from Disney Consumer Products where he led a franchise-focused strategic marketing organization across product business units and collaborated across The Walt Disney Company to ensure consistency with content creators. He holds bachelor’s degrees in both fine art and marketing from Louisiana State University and an MBA from Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.

HOMBRE: What can you tell us about the new GT-R that’s just hitting the market?
Jeremy Tucker: The GT-R Supercar goes on sale this summer. It’s the biggest redesign we’ve had since the car launched in 2007, completely retooled inside and out, great new body, great new front motion. The new front grill puts us in line with the complete Nissan portfolio. It really dialed up the performance from a horse power perspective and also the feature comforts in the inside of that car. You take a look at it; the leather, the stitching, the comfort, but you still have an aggressive sports car. It also has that ability to shift very comfortably from a touring perspective.

H: What are some of the new features in terms of technology?
JT: It has our standard Nissan Connect system inside, the instrument panel has been completely redesigned, making sure the power shifts are easy to reach in the front steering wheel. We redesigned the vacuum and the exhaust with the titanium exhaust system so you can truly throw that roar when you take off and you put that pedal down. All of the GT-R specs that we had from the previous edition; breaking, some of the safety features have been incorporated in the latest design. We’ve also made it a quieter ride by improving acoustics to the front and side panels of the car.

H: Quite a different color.
JT: It’s a brand new color. Blaze metallic. We really wanted to have a signature color for the GT-R that would stand out for the Nissan brand, to give it that edge and that racy performance that our car drivers love.This color is available only on the GT-R.

H: What can you tell us about the lineup of trucks?
JT: Of course we launched our Titan XD Diesel this past December, they’re doing very well. We’re expanding the line. By the time we get to September we’ll have the market covered with all different configurations for the Titan. It’s a major launch for Nissan we’re very excited about We continue to pick up awards all across the industry for ‘Truck of the Year,’ from several of the auto sites and really looking forward to launch with a bang as we get out the summer and into the fall when the full line comes on in America.

H: What is Nissan doing in the Hispanic market?
JT: Hispanics are a key to our growth and marketing strategy and our overall brand strategy at the highest level as supported by our chairman Jose Muñoz. We have a dedicated team of men and women throughout the division that are responsible for fueling multicultural growth, and Hispanic growth in particular is at the core of that. Now if you look at what we’ve done in the last year 21 percent of our sales are with Hispanics and that represents over 38 percent of our growth for Nissan. We’re very excited for that. We’ve had record setting months with Hispanics with all of our models, especially with Altima and with Rogue. We’re the number two CUV with Hispanic Mexicans and we have a lot of plans for the future as we continue to invest and grow with these consumers who know us and love us. We just want to be sure we’re doing the right thing, that we’re creating great products and we’re getting the message out there in a compelling way.

H: Why is Nissan so popular with Latinos?
JT: A couple of reasons. If you look at Mexico, Nissan is the number one selling brand in the country. We have a legacy and heritage we bring with Mexican American families as they look to car purchases here in the States. Secondly is the lineup. We have a full range of products, anything from sedans to CUVs, and now trucks. We really cover the whole spectrum with automotive and we have high quality, a great price point, and very attractive styling. We have a lot of features that are loaded in that are important to Hispanic families. Especially the investments we’re making with safety and technology.
The other piece of the puzzle is that we have a concerted effort on my team to be sure we’re delivering marketing and we’re engaging with the Hispanic community in ways that are relevant, authentic, and deeply engaging.

H: Let’s talk about the all the models you offer.
JT: Our number one selling sedan is the Altima, we had a Hispanic campaign we built and launched for that. And you’ll see that in our advertising we don’t translate ads, we build our Hispanic advertising specifically from the ground up.

Jeremy Tucker accepting “Spanish TV Advertiser Of The Year” from Nielsen

Nielsen awarded Nissan the ‘Hispanic Advertiser of the Year’ award in automotive. It’s not just for this year. We are so proud because it’s a culmination of years of efforts and years of future commitment that we’re making. If you look at the growth of cars in America Polk came out with data that says by 2017 a majority of the growth for the industry is fueled by multicultural, and a big portion of that is Hispanic. We’re the number one Facebook page for Hispanic speakers in automotive, and we have a dialogue every day, every hour with your fans. We find out what’s going well, we find out what’s going poorly, what we need to address, and we take action as fast as we can.

H: What are some of the changes you see coming to the automotive industry?
JT: This industry is going to change in the next five years. The innovations that are coming, autonomous driving, some of the features of the connected car, and how our intelligent mobility strategy is going to come to life for us and for the industry as a whole is going to be unbelievable. In 2017 the next phase comes, then 2020, and in five years our industry will be different. As a cultural anthropologist I love that.

H: What advice can you offer anyone aspiring to have such a powerful and influential position such as yours?
JT: I say two things often. I can’t teach curiosity. I always look for finding curious people and being curious yourself. For marketing in particular and for this industry you have to reinvent yourself and you have to find out whats going on and you have to be a student of culture and you have to love people and you have to understand what makes people tic, what makes them happy, what makes them sad, what are their frustrations, hopes, dreams, desires, and really be that student and bring that to the business and have that empathy.
The other thing is that you have to realize, as one of my favorite quotes from Picasso says, ‘Good artists create, great artists steal.’ And what he meant by that is that good ideas come from everywhere and everyone and anyone and you have to be able to look at the world around and say that’s a good idea and not be arrogant. Say, ‘Is there a way that we can learn from that or take it and make it our own and really build upon it.’ So stay humble, stay curious and always be on the lookout for a good idea.

H: Finally, who were some of the people that influenced you?
JT:  I am where I am because of the great investment of people before me and I always work to pay it back and pay it forward. There have been men and women in my life who have inspired me and you need to find those people. As you get to be a leader find ways to pay it back and support the people that are hungry and willing to learn. That’s what makes this journey worth it, otherwise we terminate on ourselves. If you’re not paying it forward you don’t leave a legacy.