Mazda has removed Robert Davis as head of U.S. sales and reassigned the long-time executive to a newly created role overseeing compliance and legislation, the company has announced.

Davis leaves his role as senior vice president of U.S. operations to assume the role of senior vice president of special assignments, where he will lead teams in the areas of recall compliance and cybersecurity with a focus on upcoming legislation, regulations and compliance, Mazda North American Operations has announced. Davis will also mentor younger executives.

Mazda will name a replacement at a future date, according to a spokesperson.

Mazda's vehicle sales in the U.S. fell 6.7% to 297,773 in 2016, according to Goodcarbadcar.net.

In a related move, Tom Donnelly has been promoted to vice president of sales and retail operations to replace Ron Stettner, who's leaving Mazda after nine years. Donnelly was previously the regional general manager for the Western Region.