Ghosn trains his magic touch on Mitsubishi
NissanRenault is on the cusp of becoming world’s largest carmaker
Carlos Ghosn may get the last laugh after all.
Ten years ago, as the dynamic executive who had brought together Japan’s Nissan and France’s Renault, he sought to execute a mega-merger with General Motors. It didn’t happen, and he looked like a man who saw his legacy slipping away.
Today, it’s hard to imagine things working out better than they have for Ghosn, Nissan-Renault and the other automakers coming into his orbit.
Nissan-Renault finds itself on the cusp of becoming the world’s largest automaker by taking control of Mitsubishi, a deal that makes more sense and entails less risk than the long-shot GM merger ever did.
Ghosn has shown himself to be the master of the distressed asset, buying troubled automakers for pennies on the dollar, whipping them into shape and forging a global giant. He plans to incorporate troubled Mitsubishi into an alliance that already includes Renault, Nissan, Romanian Dacia, Russia’s Lada and Korean Samsung Motors.
You can make a good argument that none of those automakers would still exist if not for Ghosn. Under his leadership, they have reached new heights. History suggests that’ll be true for Mitsubishi, too, as the alliance continues to grow.
Although there’s an element of sleight of hand to some executives’ constant pursuit of the next deal, the result of Ghosn’s dealmaking has consistently been greater than the sum of its parts.
“He’s done a great job putting Renault and Nissan together and letting them retain distinct personalities,” IHS Automotive senior analyst Stephanie Brinley said.
“He built the alliance and stayed long enough to make it stable and productive.”
Ghosn’s style is to act quickly but plan for the long term. Unlike leaders who pull all authority to themselves, he delegates broadly and gives his lieutenants clear, measurable goals.
Expect more of those clear targets later this year when Ghosn lays out details of his plan to incorporate Mitsubishi into the alliance he created in 1998, when Renault rescued Nissan from bankruptcy. Ghosn promises to announce a “massive” business plan shortly to maximize Mitsubishi’s impact.
Nissan-Renault was the world’s No. 4 automaker with 8.5 million sales in 2015. Mitsubishi sold 1 million. The alliance claims to be No. 1 in global electric vehicle sales, with 306,197 through August.
Simple addition will put the expanded Alliance within spitting distance of 10 million units and global sales leadership this year.
“He built the alliance and stayed long enough to make it stable and productive.” IHS Automotive senior analyst Stephanie Brinley