BREAKING: Carlos Ghosn to step down as CEO of Nissan

[RicerX]

Source: Autoblog

Carlos Ghosn announced he will be stepping down as CEO of the Nissan on April 1, to be replaced by current Nissan co-CEO Hiroto Saikawa. The move comes after close to two decades of leadership and the rebuilding of a company that was close to disaster. Ghosn isn't finished with the company he helped rebuild, as he will will remain on as chairman of the board and continue on as leader of the Renault-Nissan Alliance following the change of guard.

In addition to running Renault-Nissan, Ghosn has taken over as chairman of Mitsubishi Motors after acquiring a 34-percent stake in 2016, a move he spearheaded. Ghosn stated, "I am confident that the management team I have developed at Nissan over the past 18 years has the talent and experience to meet the company's operational and strategic goals. Having recently taken on new responsibilities at Mitsubishi Motors, and taking into consideration the upcoming Nissan general shareholders meeting, I have decided that the time is right for Hiroto Saikawa to succeed me as Nissan's CEO."

Definitely end of an era, but I don't expect too many changes to Nissan's direction in the near future.

[lne937s]

Hopefully he can get a little sleep now. Chairing 3 companies and the being Chair/CEO of the Alliance is really enough for one person. Trying to be CEO of all of them as well is too much to ask of one human being.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Boy, my feelings on the situation are a lot different than I'm seeing in this thread. Haha.

I've never ever been a Ghosn fan. Ever. I know he saved a dying brand, but I honestly think it's more of a zombie now. It might not be dead but it sure isn't alive, and I think dying with a solid legacy would have been no worse than turning into what it has become. Every meaningful nameplate the brand makes except GTR and Z has been diluted and overlapped and softened to the point of purposelessness, and even those two have been seriously neglected for far too long and are in desperate need of updates. I don't like the way he runs companies (something I studied extensively shortly after the Nissan/Renault purchase) and I despise his focus on sales volume over product quality and design. He may be a successful businessman but most people who qualify for that title these days are boring as Hell and run their companies the same way. But I am thrilled to see him handing off the CEO hat to someone else. If nothing else, hopefully this will at least mean Nissan will start to act like a Japanese automaker again instead of a French one.

What I am very interested in is the future of Mitsubishi. Why? Because I hate it so much at the same time that I don't care about it at all. The brand is so meaningless that an attempt at a resurrection can only lead to interesting things. Either it dies or it actually starts to matter, and both of those are a huge step forward from where the brand has been for the past 25 years.

[AZhitman]

I think gaining Mitsu as an automaker wasn't the point. Gaining Mitsu means gaining additional parts streams, manufacturing facilities, and connections.

Hell, they ceased to be relevant as an automaker well over a decade ago.

[Jesda]

Mitsubishi is big on trucks and commercial vehicles. They're basically irrelevant for passenger cars.

I'm mostly curious about what this means for Infiniti, a soulless brand that makes a couple great cars.

[Bubba1]

fwiw: Mitsubishi trucks (or "Fuso") seems to have a similar reputation as their cars in the US market. Cheaply made, cheaply priced, and trouble prone.

[numbnuts240]

Cheaply made, cheaply priced, and trouble prone.

while i can agree with the first two, i have experienced and heard quite the opposite of the third.

[Bubba1]

I've been driving non-cdl trucks part time for a used truck dealer for few years, and have driven a bunch of Fusos. (too many) They're fragile compared to Isuzu or Hino (Toyota) and always seem have annoying problems.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I think gaining Mitsu as an automaker wasn't the point. Gaining Mitsu means gaining additional parts streams, manufacturing facilities, and connections.

Hell, they ceased to be relevant as an automaker well over a decade ago.

Yeah, you're right. I think that was actually the official statement when the purchase was made as well.

I certainly hope it trickles down into an improvement in the worlds most pointless automaker, though.

[Lowes11]

So many ways to look at this. I do feel like Nissan has dropped the ball lately. I don't care for the CVT at all. I still have two Nissans and one Dodge. I am looking forward to better options in the future for Nissan. Looking forward to the new Frontier!

[Jesda]

Hard to believe Mitsu USA was a brand that once claimed to be representative of emotion.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MuYLiFClb0[/youtube]

[Desert Rat]

Hard to believe Mitsu USA was a brand that once claimed to be representative of emotion.

Still is. It's just that the emotion it represents now is drowsiness and indifference....

[OriginalWheelman]

Ghosn took a dead company and brought it back to life. There is a word for that, necromancy. Just like all zombies it's a shambling, decaying monster that reminds you less and less of what it used to be every year. This, frankly, isn't gone enough for me. I'm driving a Ford because of the direction this idiot took the company.

[float_6969]

Others have stated my opinion on this pretty well already. While he "saved" Nissan, it's just a soulless, mindless, boring-mobile factory now. The only exciting cars it makes, the GTR and Z34, are LOONG overdue for ground up re-vamps. I have little hope that Nissan will ever make all of their vehicles exciting like they used to.

[Desert Rat]

I'm down to 1 Nissan. have had a good list of them over the years including a 240Z, a pair of 280ZXTs, a Z31, Sentra, Xterra, Frontier, and 2 Muranos. Only my 370Z remains. Just watched my Frontier drive away last weekend after almost 19 years.

Nissan's new lineup is boring. The only two interesting vehicles they have are very aged without a refresh, and are available in ridiculously low volumes. Their trucks are dead to me now. Nissan's refusal to refresh their product line makes vehicles that were once great die off. First the Pathfinder turned into a stupid CVT car, The Frontier is unchanged since 2005. They killed off the Xterra. The Titan went WAY too long without a refresh, and the new one is boring and not selling because it's priced through the roof.

Yeah, Nissan can pretty much get bent. American stuff is much more interesting these days.