Nissan design chief Shiro Nakamura to retire

Nissan's chief designer Shiro Nakamura will retire at the end of March after 17 years with the carmaker. Nakamura has been responsible for the styling of some of the hugely significant cars for Nissan, including the GT-R, Juke, Qashqai, 350Z and Leaf.

Alfonso Albaisa, who is currently the head of design at Infiniti, will replace Nakamura, while ex-BMW chief designer Karim Habib will take up Albaisa’s vacated role.

The 66-year old, Nakamura, was first brought to Nissan in 1999 by Carlos Ghosn, and Nissan soon went on a remarkable turnaround which took it from the brink of bankruptcy to huge sales success with its Qashqai model leading the crossover boom internationally.

Recently, Nakamura has overseen everything, from the super-budget Datsun brand to more experimental work with Nissan's flagship Infiniti marque.

Nakamura's replacement, Albaisa, joined Infiniti in 2013 and went on to help design the QX30 and QX50, as well as the Q80 Inspiration concept car.

Meanwhile, Habib joins Nissan from BMW, where Jozef Kabaň is now chief designer. A Canadian, Habib joined the German manufacturer in 2012 but stepped down earlier this year. It was initially rumoured that he would move to Volkswagen, but has now joined Infiniti.