FRANKLIN, Tenn. - Nissan, which is launching five new vehicles in 15 months, hired former Consumer Reports Auto Test Center Senior Director, David Champion, for the newly created position of executive adviser, competitive assessment and quality.

Champion will report to Steve Monk, director, vehicle evaluation and testing and chief marketability engineer for Nissan Technical Center North America, and he will be based at its Arizona Testing Center. His work also will align closely with customer satisfaction efforts overseen by Carla Bailo, senior vice president, research and development. Champion's hiring marks his return to Nissan, where he served as a quality assurance engineer from 1994 to 1997, working to identify and correct customer dissatisfiers.

"David Champion's unique industry background will help ensure that the customer's voice is evident in every product we engineer," said Bailo. "His experience in developing robust testing methods will help Nissan keep pace with the increasing complexity of our products and stay focused on continually improving our customer satisfaction ratings."

Champion will play a key role in Nissan's focus on quality improvement for which the company has been increasingly recognized. Nissan and Infiniti were among the most improved brands in J.D. Power and Associates' 2012 Initial Quality Study that ranks new-vehicle quality. In the 2012 Customer Satisfaction Index Study, which surveys customers' satisfaction with dealer service departments, Nissan scored the largest improvement in the industry. In 2011, Nissan also made the largest improvement for any volume automaker in the history of the J.D. Power Sales Satisfaction Index Study that asks consumers for their impression of the dealership where they just purchased a vehicle.

Prior to his roles at Consumer Reports and Nissan, Champion was a principal engineer at Land Rover of North America, where he established remote test facilities throughout the United States and Canada. Champion earned dual bachelor's degrees at University of Aston, Birmingham, England, in mechanical engineering and metal and material science.

Champion joins Nissan on Sept. 10.