Auto maker puts three executives in charge, with its China chief
becoming CEO
By Sean McLain
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (October 9, 2019).
YOKOHAMA, Japan -- Nissan Motor Co. named a new chief executive
and said the company would be led by a three-person team that will
try to reverse a profit slide and repair relations with alliance
partner Renault SA.
"Looking at the current situation of Nissan, strong leadership
is expected, but there are two sides of the coin on strong
leadership," said Yasushi Kimura, Nissan's board chairman. "We
thought group leadership, where they can support each other, will
be more transparent and can make fairer decisions."
The board tapped as CEO the head of Nissan's China business,
Makoto Uchida. Ashwani Gupta, currently chief operating officer of
alliance member Mitsubishi Motors Corp., will become chief
operating officer, while an executive who has been overseeing
turnaround efforts, Jun Seki, will become vice chief operating
officer and report to Mr. Gupta. The three are set to assume their
roles by Jan. 1.
Nissan's profit has been shrinking, hit by falling sales around
the world. The company is slashing production and has said it plans
to cut 12,500 jobs globally. At the same time, Nissan's
relationship with Renault has been strained by battles over the
direction of the 20-year-old alliance.
The leadership decision, coming weeks ahead of the board's
self-imposed end-of-October deadline, reflected its desire to act
quickly through a compromise. All three executives were on the
board's short list of nominees for the CEO job, people familiar
with the board's discussions have said. Directors had initially
planned to debate who was the best candidate over the course of
this month. "The consensus was that sooner was better," Mr. Kimura
said.
Each person had a different appeal to the board, said Masakazu
Toyoda, the director who oversaw the CEO search. Mr. Uchida, 53,
oversees Nissan's China business, one of its most important
markets. He also has an international outlook, which the board
thought was important, Mr. Toyoda said. Mr. Uchida spent some of
his childhood outside Japan and joined Nissan after working for
more than a decade at a trading company because he admired the
Renault-Nissan alliance, Mr. Toyoda said.
Mr. Gupta, 49, has worked at all three alliance partners, and
held a senior alliance position overseeing cooperation between the
three car makers on trucks and sport-utility vehicles.
Mr. Seki, 58, was tapped by former CEO Hiroto Saikawa to oversee
Nissan's recovery efforts. Mr. Saikawa, a longtime lieutenant to
former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, resigned last month. Nissan
declined to make Messrs. Uchida, Gupta and Seki available for
comment.
The group-leadership approach could address dueling concerns
from some at Nissan and Renault. On Nissan's side, some were
worried the CEO search was being used as a way for Renault to seize
control of its partner, said people familiar with the board's
discussions. Conversely, Renault people were concerned the next
Nissan CEO, if chosen from among the Japanese car maker's veteran
executives, would seek greater independence from Renault, these
people said.
One of the people called the choice a victory for the alliance
and said, "It shows Nissan has understood that it's harder without
the alliance."
Some board members had sought the ouster of Nissan's vice
president in charge of legal affairs, Hari Nada, at Tuesday's
meeting. The board was informed that a new executive committee at
Nissan determined Mr. Nada would no longer be in charge of legal
affairs, said some of the people familiar with the board's
discussions.
Nissan declined to comment on the board's discussions and
declined to make Mr. Nada available for comment.
Repairing relations between the alliance members will be a
priority for the incoming chief executive, Mr. Uchida, who will sit
on an alliance operating board with the heads of Renault and
Mitsubishi.
Alliance decision making has slowed since the arrest of Mr.
Ghosn, the former alliance head, who faces charges of financial
wrongdoing in Japan. Mr. Ghosn has said he is innocent of all the
allegations. Joint management teams created by Mr. Ghosn have been
left with little to do, as Nissan sought to create an arm's-length
relationship with Renault.
An even thornier question is the future structure of the
alliance. Renault and Nissan reopened secret negotiations this
summer on a change to the cross-shareholding relationship that
formally binds the companies together. Nissan has long complained
that the relationship is weighted in Renault's favor. Renault owns
a 43.4% stake in Nissan, while Nissan owns a 15% nonvoting stake in
Renault.
--Nick Kostov contributed to this article.
.
Write to Sean McLain at sean.mclain@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 09, 2019 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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