‘Hell’ for Nissan boss as merger plan raises the stakes

Prospect of Renault-fiat Chrysler deal creates new problems for Hiroto Saikawa

Just two months ago, in a bid to put the mayhem of Carlos Ghosn’s arrest behind them and convince the world that the future was bright, the leaders of Renault and Nissan linked hands on stage, beamed for the cameras and declared the “restart of the alliance”.

For Hiroto Saikawa, the Nissan chief executive whose leadership hung by a thread and whose future depends on navigating a global company through crisis, it was a crucial show of unity.

But for his counterpart in the handshake, the Renault chairman JeanDominique Senard, the word “restart” had a much greater meaning than a friendly sound bite. Unknown to Mr Saikawa and the Nissan leadership, Mr Senard was already in serious talks with the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles chairman, John Elkann, that would take the two European giants towards a full merger proposal and fundamentally rebalance the relationship between

months since the November arrest, Mr Saikawa is already preparing to face his third annual meeting of shareholders as CEO. The key to his survival, say people close to Nissan, was his hardline negotiating powers against what was seen as an aggressive push towards a merger by the French government.

But it was precisely Mr Saikawa’s unwavering tough stance, said people close to Renault, that eventually prompted Mr Senard to dramatically pivot his focus away from Nissan to FCA.

As Mr Saikawa prepares for his alliance board meeting with Mr Senard on Wednesday, he has signalled he would be open to talks to strengthen the partnership. The big question facing Mr Saikawa is whether he is prepared to take the group, which is now 43 per cent-owned by Renault, into a convoluted French-italian-americanJapanese minefield where its voice will be less represented than in the current alliance.

“It was hard to understand Renault alone. Now talks will get even more