Carlos Ghosn pledges patience amid churn at Infiniti

[Tragic Bronson]

http://www.autonews.com/article/201...ghosn-pledges-patience-amid-churn-at-infiniti

Another exec gets a chance to lift sluggish brand in U.S.

NASHVILLE -- Carlos Ghosn last week turned to another fresh face in his latest efforts to spark Nissan Motor Corp.'s Infiniti luxury brand.

Gone, suddenly, as vice president for Infiniti Americas was Michael Bartsch, 56, who had been recruited from Porsche Cars North America just 18 months ago. Like most Infiniti chiefs in the Ghosn era, Bartsch left parent Nissan when his run at the luxury arm ended.

The brand's future in the U.S., Infiniti's biggest market, now falls to Randy Parker, 48. Parker had spent most of his career at General Motors and its former finance arm, GMAC, before joining Nissan as a regional manager in 2013.

During Ghosn's 16-year tenure leading the Japanese automaker, he has relied on several executives groomed by rivals to move the needle on Infiniti. But he hasn't come close to breaking into the top tier of luxury automakers -- a goal that dates to the 1990s and remains one of his key declared objectives.

Last year Infiniti ranked seventh among luxury brands in the U.S., selling 117,330 vehicles, or about a third as many as No. 1 Mercedes. Infiniti sold 182,000 vehicles worldwide, a 13 percent increase from the year before. Global leader BMW sold 1.66 million.

Fueling Ghosn's current hope is a stream of new models, including three new compact luxury vehicles that are being co-developed with Mercedes and will use engines and other technologies shared with the German automaker.

But those new products won't begin reaching showrooms until late this year, and the rollout won't be completed until 2018.

"Infiniti has been a long story of overpromising and underdelivering," Ghosn told Automotive News Europe just before last week's U.S. management change.

Infiniti's U.S. retailers received news of the executive switch with some trepidation, said Matt Gunderson, owner of Infiniti of Mission Viejo in Orange County, Calif., and chairman of Infiniti's national dealer advisory board.

"You always have the concern that management change brings additional changes," Gunderson said Thursday, Feb. 19, after Infiniti's dealer board met in New York. "But the clear message we've gotten is that we continue to pursue the same strategies to achieve our same objectives of growth."

Ghosn insists that he remains patient. But for its leaders, Infiniti hasn't been a path to an extended stay within Nissan.

Bartsch's immediate predecessors, longtime Ford executive Ben Poore and Nissan veteran Mark Igo, both exited the auto industry after leading Infiniti.

Tom Orbe, the first of Ghosn's U.S. Infiniti chiefs, departed in 2001 at age 49 seeking a job that allowed him more time with his family. Add in Bartsch, and the four left Nissan at the average age of 51.

Ghosn's only U.S. Infiniti boss to step to another Nissan position was Mark McNabb, who moved on to head Nissan Division, left the company for Mercedes, and returned to steer Nissan North America. McNabb has since held senior positions at General Motors, Maserati and Volkswagen.

Bartsch left to pursue other interests, Infiniti said in announcing his departure. Initially, he reported directly to Johan de Nysschen, who had been recruited from Audi to steer Infiniti's global operations from Hong Kong. De Nysschen's own high-profile post at Infiniti lasted just two years. He's now in charge of Cadillac.

In the recent interview, Ghosn showed less patience when asked about leadership at Infiniti worldwide.

"You change CEOs when things are not delivered," he said. "When you overpromise and underdeliver, you go. This is the rule in our industry."

Dealer Gunderson said de Nysschen rejuvenated the spirits of Infiniti dealers when he arrived in 2012 and laid out a long-term product plan for the brand.

"We really appreciated Johan's six-year vision," Gunderson said. "And it helped with our long-term planning. But all Infiniti really needs right now is a two-year plan -- and for everybody to stick to it."

Ghosn replaced de Nysschen with Roland Krueger, hired from BMW AG in September.

"I trust him," Ghosn said. "He is a man with a high level of integrity between what he promised and what he can deliver. I feel confident that under his leadership, Infiniti is going to limit its promise to what it can deliver."

Ghosn added: "We're patient. We have time. Infiniti is an opportunity for us. Ultimately what I want is to make Infiniti another engine of growth and an engine of profitability for Nissan.

meanwhile...

 

[mmcartalk]

Gone, suddenly, as vice president for Infiniti Americas was Michael Bartsch, 56, who had been recruited from Porsche Cars North America just 18 months ago. Like most Infiniti chiefs in the Ghosn era, Bartsch left parent Nissan when his run at the luxury arm ended.

Ghosn insists that he remains patient. But for its leaders, Infiniti hasn't been a path to an extended stay within Nissan.

Bartsch's immediate predecessors, longtime Ford executive Ben Poore and Nissan veteran Mark Igo, both exited the auto industry after leading Infiniti.

Tom Orbe, the first of Ghosn's U.S. Infiniti chiefs, departed in 2001 at age 49 seeking a job that allowed him more time with his family. Add in Bartsch, and the four left Nissan at the average age of 51.

Well, if all the First Officers end up jumping overboard, maybe, just maybe, it's time for a new Captain.

 

[mmcartalk]

Well, if all the First Officers end up jumping overboard, maybe, just maybe, it's time for a new Captain.

Actually, I probably should have clarified that a little. One can't necessarily lay the whole blame on Ghosn. After all, he did save Nissan from bankruptcy some 15 years ago, though it took a 4-5-year string of some rather cheaply-designed Nissan and Infiniti products, with interiors that were sometimes little more than military-grade. The cost-cutting, IMO, did temporarily short-change some car-buyers, but saved Nissan in the long run. It's true that Infiniti, under several different Chiefs, has not been very impressive in its direction or marketing, but at least some of that was simply due to limited resources. Ghosn may want Infiniti to be another Lexus, but, even with another new Infiniti Chief at the helm, money and resources don't grow on trees......Infiniti probably isn't going to be another Lexus anytime soon.

 

[CIF]

Well said mmcartalk. The only problem is, with Nissan joined together to Renault, and more recently tied at the hip to Daimler-Benz, I don't think it matters who the captain of this ship is. I foresee nothing but a messy disaster for Nissan/Infiniti going forward. Automotive history has proven that such large and strange mergers/alliances between several different automakers never lasts, and it usually ends with mixed results, at best. At worst, companies suffer dramatic financial problems, if not outright bankruptcy.

 

[Gecko]

Ghosn did a fine job turning Nissan around, but he did it with life support from Renault and continues to deepen the alliance there. Yes, it's kept Nissan alive and has surely made the company more prosperous, but there is a list of things that many people don't like as well... first among them being Nissan's dwindling reliability.

Ghosn might make a great turnaround guy, but that doesn't make him the right person to run a luxury brand. If you keep recruiting execs from successful brands, keep running them off, and then trash talk the company yourself..... the common denominator here is Ghosn. I am quite frankly not sure that Infiniti will survive under his leadership - the blossoming partnership with Mercedes is an effort to share costs and stop the bleeding, much like he did with Renault and Nissan. I'm not saying that premium brands can spend money like wild, but Ghosn isn't ever going to have a successful luxury division when all he's using is recycled parts from the Nissan, Renault and Mercedes stock rooms. He is a cost-savvy leader, and Infinti needs investment. Leaders keep leaving in such short order that nobody has much of a chance to make a long term change or impact.

It's just all a mess.