Nissan names Makoto Uchida as new CEO

Bloomberg

Nissan Motor Co named the head of its China joint venture as chief executive officer, as the struggling Japanese carmaker seeks to heal deep divisions caused by the arrest of its former chairman and repair fraught relations with partner Renault SA.
Makoto Uchida, 53, will work alongside Ashwani Gupta from affiliate Mitsubishi Motors Corp, who was named chief operating officer, and Jun Seki, the former head of Nissan in China, who will become deputy COO, according to a statement.
“The board believes that this arrangement, of a CEO and two COOs, is the best way forward for Nissan right now,” director Masakazu Toyoda said at a press conference. “They can lift each others’ game, support one another, be transparent and make fair decisions.”
Uchida, who will be Nissan’s third boss in as many years, will need to address deteriorating profits as well as executing a massive restructuring.
In addition, the company’s relationship with partner Renault in a global alliance with Mitsubishi was rocked by the arrest nearly one year ago of their former leader, Carlos Ghosn, for financial crimes, which he has denied.
Relations were further tested when Nissan scuttled Renault’s plan to merge with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Nissan’s new top management could face pressure from the French company, which owns
43% of its Japanese partner, to decide whether talks should be rekindled, possibly for a three-way combination.
Uchida ran Nissan’s joint venture in China. Like many major automakers, Nissan counts the country as its single-biggest market, contributing almost a third of its operating income in recent years.
He joined Nissan from Nissho Iwai Corp in 2003, and has curried the favor of Renault because of his collaboration with the French automaker on joint procurement, said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public.
Known for his overseas experience, Uchida has also worked for Renault Samsung in South Korea.
He studied theology at Doshisha University, an unusual background for someone in the auto industry.
The Nissan board had been under pressure to select a new leader at a critical time for the company, which reported decade-low profits and announced 12,500 job cuts as it seeks to turn itself around. Auto sales are slowing across the globe and new technologies from self-driving cars to electrification are disrupting the industry.
“There is restructuring to be done at home and abroad, new vehicle development needs to speed up, while management coordination with Renault and efforts to improve profitability are in disarray,’ Koji Endo, an analyst at SBI Securities Co, said before the news of the appointments. “There are so many things to do.”
Although the Nissan board on Tuesday discussed the fate of Hari Nada, they didn’t make any announcement about the whistle-blower who was instrumental in the downfall of Ghosn.