Nissan says Ghosn to quit as CEO, Saikawa to take helm
TOKYO: Nissan Motor Co has announced that Carlos Ghosn, who has led the Japanese carmaker for the past 16 years, will step aside as chief executive officer, handing over the helm to a long-time company veteran.
The change in leadership comes just as Nissan and group carmakers Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp try to leverage their combined scale as one of the world’s top-producing carmakers to compete with carmakers and technology companies to develop selfdriving cars and lower- emission vehicles.
Hiroto Saikawa, currently co- CEO, will be the sole chief executive officer from Apr 1.
The announcement ends years of speculation over when Ghosn would relinquish the top job at
Having recently taken on new responsibilities at Mitsubishi Motors ... I have decided that the time is right for Hiroto Saikawa to succeed me as Nissan’s CEO.
Nissan, Japan’s No. 2 carmaker, to focus on French alliance partner Renault SA, whose investors have grumbled that he was stretched too thin leading two major carmakers.
Ghosn in December added a third chairmanship at Mitsubishi Motors, which joined the carmaker alliance last year following Nissan’s acquisition of a controlling stake in the troubled Japanese carmaker.
Ghosn will remain as chairman of all three Alliance companies, and as CEO of the Renault Group, keeping him in the top position of an carmaker group which has joined the ranks of Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG as a producer of around 10 million vehicles annually.
“Having recently taken on new responsibilities at Mitsubishi Motors ... I have decided that the time is right for Hiroto Saikawa to succeed me as Nissan’s CEO,” Ghosn said in a statement.
“As Nissan’s chairman, I will continue to supervise and guide the company, both independently and within the Renault-NissanMitsubishi Alliance,” he said, adding that the move would allow him to devote more time to running the alliance.
Handing over the reigns at Nissan will likely enable Ghosn, known in the auto industry as “Le cost killer” to focus on further leveraging the scale of the carmaker alliance to lower costs for production, procurement and R& D.
Saikawa, a 40-year Nissan veteran, has served as co- CEO since last November after the carmaker took a controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors. Prior to that, he served as chief competitive officer, and also currently heads Japan’s auto industry lobby.— Reuters
Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO