1036
Nissan, which is going through a severe crisis, needs a new leader, as Makoto Uchida has failed to solve its problems. Starting April 1, Nissan will be headed by Mexican Ivan Espinosa.
Japanese Makoto Uchida took over as CEO of Nissan at the end of 2019, when he was promoted by the board of directors as an anti-crisis manager who would restore stability and confidence to the company after the arrest of Carlos Ghosn and the degradation of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.
Under the leadership of Makoto Ushida, Nissan was unable to salvage relations with old partners or find new ones: an attempt to create an alliance with Honda failed, and, according to rumors, Makoto Ushida was the main problem - Honda management demanded his resignation, as he was extremely intransigent and unwilling to compromise.
Nissan went into emergency management mode last November amid a sharp decline in financial performance. If Makoto Uchida had managed to find a new anchor investor for the company or strike a deal with Honda, he would probably have managed to keep his position, but since his actions have led nowhere and the company is heading straight for bankruptcy, the decision was made to get rid of the old CEO — the official press release does not even contain formal words of gratitude to Makoto Uchida.
The new CEO of Nissan will be Ivan Espinosa, a native of Mexico who has been working at Nissan since 2003. Espinosa currently holds the position of director of global planning. He is not yet ready to share plans to save the company, but he will probably try to conclude a more or less profitable deal for Nissan - this could be a restart of merger talks with Honda or cooperation with another financially and technologically strong partner. For example, with the Taiwanese company Foxconn, which has long been eyeing Nissan.
