Nissan’s top executive resigns following the company’s poor financial showing, a significant change of command at the Japanese automaker. The company’s new CEO, Ivan Espinosa, is currently the chief planning officer and succeeds Makoto Uchida, who has run the company since 2019.
The leadership change was officially announced by Nissan on Tuesday, with Uchida to stay on the board as a director through the company’s general shareholders’ meeting. His resignation comes as Nissan has been undergoing something of a turmoil over the post and the company’s financial and strategic issues.
It has only been a few weeks since Uchida called off the talks with Honda Motor Co. for the creation of a joint holding company. First announced last year, the deal was expected to enhance Nissan’s electric vehicle (EV) portfolio and cut costs. But Uchida refused to have Nissan be a Honda subsidiary, saying it was not acceptable.
Despite killing the joint venture plan, Nissan and Honda will still team up on certain projects, including electric vehicles and research. Nevertheless, there are no signs of improvement for Nissan as it expects to report an 80 billion yen ($540 million) loss this fiscal year.
These challenges have made the company to question itself on how best to navigate the new automotive world especially as the company and other manufacturers transition to producing electric vehicles. Whether Espinosa can help turn around Nissan and attract investors remains to be seen.
