Nissan has announced a shake-up of its global leadership after a period of disappointing sales and the collapse of crucial merger talks with fellow car manufacturer Honda.
Chief executive Makoto Uchida is stepping down to be replaced by Ivan Espinosa, currently the company’s chief planning officer, on April 1. Other changes at the company’s leadership were also announced.
Speculation about Mr Uchida’s future had been rife in recent weeks after the collapse of talks with Japanese rival Honda Motor Co that had aimed to set up a joint holding company to integrate its businesses. Mr Uchida had said the focus of the talks had changed to making Nissan into a Honda subsidiary, which he deemed unacceptable.
The firm, which has a major plant at Sunderland employing around 6,000 people, is projecting a loss of 80bn yen (£421m) for the full year to the end of this month. It has announced a global cuts programme that will see thousands of jobs cut and some plants closed. Sunderland appears to have escaped the worst of those cuts, however, with a shift on one production line closed but no job losses announced.
New boss Ivan Espinosa, who joined Nissan in 2003, has spent much of his Nissan career in Mexico and Southeast Asia, overseeing product planning, including the drive towards electric vehicles.
He said: “I sincerely believe that Nissan has so much more potential than what we’re seeing today.” He stressed his love for Nissan, noting he has developed a deep understanding of what makes the company unique and valuable.
Nissan said the company leadership needs to be “renewed” to achieve long-term growth. Mr Uchida, who remains as a director, expressed confidence in Mr Espinosa as “a real car guy”, and stressed he is handing over the baton of leadership to better unify company ranks.
“I am confident that Nissan will definitely make a comeback,” he said, appearing at a hastily called news conference with Mr Espinosa.
Nissan’s plant at Sunderland has been at the forefront of the company’s transition to electric vehicle production and has benefited from about £2bn in investment through the EV36zero initiative. Earlier this year Jatco, a transmission supplier with a majority stake held by Nissan, unveiled plans to establish 180 jobs at the International Advanced Manufacturing Park located nearby.
Politicians including North East mayor Kim McGuinness, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds have all hailed the importance of the plant to the North East and wider UK economy in recent weeks.
Apart from Mr Uchida’s departure as chief executive, Nissan announced other managerial changes, including giving an expanded role to Guillaume Cartier, its chief performance officer, in global marketing and customer experience. Eiichi Akashi, corporate vice president of the vehicle planning and vehicle component engineering division, was named chief technology officer, succeeding Kunio Nakaguro.
