Bentley Taps Ex-Nissan Exec to Head U.S. Sales

Volkswagen AG’s Bentley luxury car unit has hired Mike Rocco, formerly head of sales for Nissan Motor Co.’s central U.S. region, to be its vice president of sales and operations in the Americas, Automotive News reports.

Rocco’s assignment—a new position for Bentley—will begin on June 19. He succeeds Mark Barnes, who had been the brand’s chief operating officer since last September.

Barnes has been named to head a VW liaison office set up to facilitate U.S. government monitoring of the company’s activities. VW agreed in January to accept three years of outside monitoring and pay $4.3 billion to settle criminal conspiracy charges stemming from its diesel emission cheating scandal.

Rocco takes over sales for Bentley’s largest regional market. The brand’s sales in the U.S. zoomed 92% to 930 units in January-May, according to Autodata Corp.