Nissan Motor Co. on Tuesday appointed new top leadership to "revitalize the company." The wholly unorthodox personnel lineup gave the impression of completely departing from the old Nissan ruled for long years by former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, a defendant in an upcoming trial.
Makoto Uchida, 53, Nissan's senior vice president, will become the president and chief executive officer. Ashwani Gupta, 49, Nissan alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s chief operating officer, will be the COO, while Nissan Senior Vice President Jun Seki, 58, will be the vice COO.
Some aspects of their management skills remain unproven, so the troika was set up to help Nissan through difficult situations such as a review of the capital relationship with Renault SA in the alliance.
According to sources, the board of directors was scheduled to meet at 3 p.m., but the meeting started shortly after 4 p.m. because the appointment committee's meeting was prolonged. The committee proposed the three names and their positions to the board. No objections were raised by the board, the source said.
The appointments were expected to be determined at the end of October. "I thought that if the appointment process dragged on, so be it," a Nissan executive said Tuesday night. "I was surprised that the committee reached an agreement."
Another executive said that, while the appointments were not due to be announced so soon, the sense of urgency internally at Nissan was so strong to roll out the new top management.
A source close to the government said: "The decision wasn't expected today. Since the number of outside directors has increased, the board meetings have become unpredictable."
After the board last month forced former President and CEO Hiroto Saikawa, 65, to resign, the appointments were made speedily.
Uchida is also the president of the joint venture Dongfeng Motor Co. in China and manages Nissan's China business. In consideration of the need to find replacements for Uchida and Gupta in their current positions, Nissan aims for the trio to take their new posts by Jan. 1.
The new appointees are markedly younger than the previous leadership. Uchida is 12 years younger than Saikawa. Most heads of major automakers are in their 60s. Both Uchida and Gupta had joined Nissan from other companies. Uchida started his career at major trading company Nissho Iwai Corp. (currently Sojitz Corp.) in 1991 and came to Nissan in 2003. These unorthodox appointments were made partly because Ghosn had monopolized power and a successor had not been groomed.
Since Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 and Saikawa, who succeeded him, has been forced to step down, confusion has reigned at Nissan.
The new management must completely grasp the internal situation at Nissan and establish a governance system. Masakazu Toyoda, chairman of the appointment committee, said at the press conference, "All three are internationally minded and their common points are that they value the alliance and place a lot of importance on speed in business."
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