Carlos Ghosn to step down as Renault/Nissan CEO

[mmcartalk]

It does not appear to be a full-stepdown per se, but a giving up of some of his former duties to assume more of a load at Mitsubishi (also partially-controlled by the Renault/Nissan conglomerate).

I applaud what Ghosn was able to accomplish at Nissan from an organizational point of view, and from saving it from bankruptcy in the early 2000s. But, unfortunately, in doing so, the quality of their vehicles suffered....first, from excessively cheap Cracker-Jack interiors, and then, once that problem had been rectified, from lower-than-average reliability ratings. They appear to come from the factory well-assembled, but develop problems quicker than average.

http://www.autonews.com/article/201...an-ceo-hands-reins-to-saikawa-as-focus-shifts


Ghosn steps down as Nissan CEO, hands reins to Saikawa as focus shifts
February 22, 2017 @ 6:34 pm
Hans Greimel
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Saikawa, formerly Nissan's chief competitive officer, was promoted to co-CEO in October. On April 1, he will become CEO and president. Photo credit: BLOOMBERGPHOTO GALLERY: Carlos Ghosn through the years







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Nissan can manage just fine without Ghosn at the wheel
» Ghosn outlines Brexit, NAFTA uncertainties facing Renault-Nissan» Ghosn pushes commonization at measured paceUPDATED: 2/23/17 7:03 am ET - adds Ghosn commentTOKYO -- Carlos Ghosn, the long-serving chief executive who rescued Nissan Motor Co. from bankruptcy, is stepping down as CEO, having nearly finished his latest business plan and driven the Renault-Nissan Alliance to new heights with the acquisition of Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Ghosn, who joined Nissan in 1999 from France’s Renault SA and became Nissan’s CEO two years later, will retain his position as chairman of the Japan’s second-biggest automaker, the company said in a statement Thursday in Tokyo. Hiroto Saikawa, who currently serves as co-CEO and is a year older than the 62-year-old Ghosn, will become sole chief executive.

The changes are effective April 1.


FROM OUR ARCHIVE: Ghosn's speech at the 2002 Automotive News World Congress
Ghosn will also retain his roles as chairman and CEO of Renault and of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, spokesman Jonathan Adashek said.

"There are still lots of things to be done inside the company (Renault) in order to make its growth sustainable and lasting and solid," Ghosn told Reuters in an interview.

And he will also stay on as chairman of Mitsubishi, a company brought into the Alliance last October through Nissan’s purchase of a controlling stake.

At that time, Ghosn promoted Saikawa to the role of Nissan’s co-CEO.


Ghosn said his new responsibilities at Mitsubishi warranted the full handover to Saikawa.

“As Nissan’s Chairman, I will continue to supervise and guide the company, both independently and within the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance,” Ghosn said in a statement.

“This planned change will also allow me to devote more time and energy to managing the strategic and operational evolution and expansion of the Alliance and ensuring that all its members benefit from the competitive advantages that its scale will deliver.”

FROM OUR ARCHIVE: 30 hours with Nissan's superman CEO

The Feb. 23 announcement shifts full control of Nissan to the Japanese veteran, as Ghosn steps back to more of an oversight role over an expansive automotive empire. The acquisition of Mitsubishi catapulted the Alliance to the No. 4 spot in global auto sales behind Volkswagen, Toyota and General Motors, as Ghosn delivered on his promise to achieve scale.

Ghosn hands over the reins as Nissan concludes its Power 88 mid-term business plan.


FROM OUR ARCHIVE: Industry disruptions tone down Ghosn


Mid-term roadmap
Saikawa will now be in charge of drawing up the next mid-term roadmap, which is expected to be announced sometime this year, Adashek said.

Adashek said it was too soon to rate Ghosn’s success in accomplishing the goals of Power 88. The mid-term plan officially runs through March 31.

FROM OUR ARCHIVE: All eyes are on Ghosn

While Ghosn came close to achieve many of his targets, key goals are still fugitive. Nissan hasn’t quite clinched the 10 percent U.S. market share it set out to achieve, nor the 8 percent global market share. It is also on track to miss its 8 percent operating profit margin target.

Ranking No. 4

But through the addition of Mitsubishi, the Alliance’s global volume surged by 934,013 vehicles to total 9.96 million units in 2016, making it the world’s 4th-largest auto group.

The Mitsubishi tie-up, finalized Oct. 20, completed Nissan’s 237 billion-yen ($2.29 billion) purchase of a controlling 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi.

Ghosn, at the CES in Las Vegas in January, plans to focus on Mitsubishi. Photo credit: BLOOMBERG
It also unleashed the continuing cascade of executive changes.

Saikawa is expected to now run Nissan independently as his own boss. That too fits the intent of Ghosn, who has said he prefers a Japanese successor at the helm of Nissan.


But it is unclear how much longer he may remain on the job. At age 63, Saikawa is also approaching retirement age.

Saikawa joined Nissan in 1977 and served as its chief competitive officer from 2013 to 2016. Before that he had roles as the chairman of the Management Committees of the Americas and Europe, as well as the executive vice president of purchasing.

He also served as a board member of Renault between 2006 and 2016.

 

[CIF]

It was due to happen. Will be interesting to see how Nissan's product lineup and financials change with him stepping away.

 

[Carmaker1]

It was due to happen. Will be interesting to see how Nissan's product lineup and financials change with him stepping away.

Absolutely, there is a reason why they keep pushing back new models and how the reliability has not been on levels it was 20-25 years ago. In fact, even though many credited him for bringing Nissan back from the brink of bankruptcy in 2001 through his 4-5 year NRP (Nissan Revival Plan) of 1999, many models introduced during the first few years of that NRP still cannot even be fully credited to him.

At the 1999 New York Auto Show in early April 1999, where they debuted the redesigned second generation 2000 I30 sedan (non-Renault), Nissan also very privately showcased various future new products, mostly developed during the 1996-1998 period (all non-Renault). Part of this and the biggest 1999 NYIAS private focus was the flagship 2002 model year Q45 (Gen 3), which design work had been already completed by mid-1998 and was at this point a running prototype in Yokohama.

F50 Ideation sketches (Q45) - 1997

Journalists were not allowed to photograph or videotape what they saw, since the Q45 wasn't due until 2001 (publicly unveiled at 2000 NYIAS). At the time Toyota was also in the midst of testing their flagship XF30 (LS 430) and were 9 months away from its NAIAS Detroit 2000 debut after a mostly successful 10-year run with the Lexus brand (and more to come in IS, GX).

The lacklustre second generation Q45, had been on the market since about September 1996 as a '97 model and was already aging with its early 90s JDM tastes, mostly because the "new Q" (*cough* Q41) was a body design crafted during the 1991-1993 period at Nissan's Tokyo design centre.
(Copied the domestic Germany-maligned, but popular in Asia/Japan W140 S-Class).
The 2nd generation Q45 design was already fully done with upon December 1993 design freeze (8 months after '94 MY Q45 refresh came out in April 1993, as the latter (grilled '94 Q45) had been hastily designed by July 1991 to fix the original "grille-free" Q45 of 1989).

The 1999 model year Q45 refresh (above) had made its debut over half a year earlier (than '99 NYIAS) in 1998 (much earlier than expected in model cycle) that while it was a slight improvement, it still paled in comparison to the more sublime Gen 2.5 LS 400, BMW E38 740i, & the best-selling Jaguar XJ-Series generation ever.

Rather quickly, Nissan didn't waste time and poured a fortune into the developing the 3rd generation Q flagship starting in 1996, despite it not helping to ease their indebtedness and not giving enough themselves time to study the Gen II Q45's market performance following '96 launch.

In the summer of 1998, Infiniti introduced a redesigned second generation G20 (first row above^), after mid-1996 discontinuation of the P10 (bottom row above^). This new G20 generation for MY 1999 was based on the FWD Nissan Primera (P11), which had since been redesigned in late 1995 in Japan and 1996 in Europe (see thumbnail -->). Design for the P11 had in fact been approved as early as late 1992, getting frozen upon arrival of the refreshed 1993.5 G20. At the time (1993), a redesigned Infiniti version had not been approved, explaining the hiatus from 1996 t0 1998.

Although a fair offering for entry level in a Tier 2 luxury brand, the second generation G20 wasn't even worth owning outside of the 5-speed manual equipped G20t (Touring) or Sport model due to the atrociously performing optional 4-speed automatic gearbox.

(R34/33/32)

Alternatively, in Japan they released the famed 34-Series Skyline, which was again still based on the R32 dating back to 1989 (last row above). Prior to that, little did anyone know that Nissan had quietly invested in development of a RWD BMW 3-Series (E36) competitor since 1994-95 to replace the R33 introduced in late 1993 (middle photo row above). Due to budgetary issues, it was decided that another remodel would be hastily developed as "R34" (topmost collage row above), an evolutionary revision on the same platform and arrive in mid-1998 as a JDM placeholder.

In January 1998, the Nissan board approved the final design for the revolutionary V35 programme. In the second half of 1998, the production design was frozen on the more premium replacement, but Nissan's financial problems were significantly worsening by this time. Actually, the "new" G20 had indeed been resurrected as a temporary placeholder in the U.S./Canadian luxury compact market segments, due to delays with the direct 3-Series competitor.

At the 1999 NYIAS, with the 2002 Q45, they also revealed to the motoring press in privacy, the RWD G20 replacement with its rising navigation screen and many other features against BMW's new E46 3-Series (IS 300 wasn't available until July 2000). It has been believed that Ghosn upon taking control over Nissan in 1999, in his ordered consolidation of the many Nissan Motor Co. car platforms, decided that this new car should also replace the P11 G20 come 2001.

This was never the case, as he barely moved to Japan in May 1999, reportedly not taking effective role as COO until June 1999. It was likely Japanese personnel that made this decision to make it the P11 (G20) replacement by 1997, particularly then CEO Yoshikazu Hanawa (since 1996), who kept that position until June 2001, when Ghosn eased him into stepping down. And plus, that of Infiniti execs in California salivating at a more ambitious volume product.

In October 1999, the V35 finally made its "unspoken" debut at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show as the Nissan XVL Concept (shown at 2000 NAIAS Detroit as Infiniti XVL, see row 2), where Lexus also debuted the Lexus Sport Coupe Concept, which was essentially the new Z40 chassis SC 430 cabriolet hidden in plain sight (Z40 design freeze was in 1998).

Clearly both the XVL and Lexus SC Concept were NOT genuine concepts, but (again) unspoken reveals of their new production cars for 2001-02. Both cars (Lexus and Nissan) were fully designed by the fall of 1998 and very far along.

Parallel to all this, a new Nissan-brand full-size pickup which had never gone beyond the planning stage, was green-lighted for a full programme as soon the F-Alpha (platform) was assessed, and that of a Ford Expedition & Tahoe

fighting SUV variant based on the pickup, plus an Infiniti-badged version of the latter against the (sub)Lexus LX and Lincoln Navigator.

All of those production "truck" designs were completed during the December 2000 to February 2001 period, being later frozen in July 2001 (codes: TA60 Titan & WA60 Pathfinder Armada) and August 2001 (JA60 QX56). The first, was previewed at Detroit's January 2001's NAIAS as the Alpha-T Concept truck (developed from spring 2000 to November 2000), with the production A60 trio being launched for 2004. Toyota was reportedly motivated to develop a larger Tundra, when it became possible that Nissan could become future competition for Gen 1 Tundra and didn't complete their own Gen 2 design until 2003 at CALTY ('07 Tundra).

Foremost amongst that revival era, was approval of a full programme for a 300ZX successor under Z33 in early 1999 based on this new front-midship platform, that would now even further deviate from the 1999 Z Concept shown that January at the NAIAS. The production Z33 design was later approved in February 2000 and teased at 99.9% at 2001 NAIAS as the 2001 Z Concept.

Also at the time, Nissan was developing a new FWD platform to underpin the new Altima (L31), due in late 2001. L31 styling freeze occurred was in mid-1999, just as he arrived. Carlos Ghosn also inaugurated development of a Nissan-branded crossover off that platform, inspired by that of Toyota's new revolutionary Lexus RX 300

and equally that of a parallel coupe-style crossover for the Infiniti brand, to be based on the RWD platform of the new sports sedan and Z car.

Back in 1999, Porsche had already announced development of their own SUV (*cough* crossover) and it had been rumoured in Germany since 1995-96, plus had just finalised its design work in the summer of 1999 (Cayenne). BMW had already unveiled the X5 (E53) SAV in January at NAIAS (video in link) and had been caught testing it since 1995 (in raised E34 5-Series bodies) and 1996 in prototype form (first X5 spy shots incl -->).

This Infiniti CUV was going to be different and take an even more performance-focused form in base grade, like a coupe on stilts plus 2 rear doors. Both the RWD FM crossover and F-Alpha SUV would replace the uni-body R50 Pathfinder-based Infiniti QX4 introduced in 1996 for the 1997 model year (see photo above^, 2nd row) and refreshed for 2000 1/2.

Due to lingering financial problems (plus others), in 1995 a fully redesigned (5th generation) Maxima was delayed from MY 2001 (Fall 2000) until the 2003 model year and Nissan instead opted to heavily remodel the A32 (introduced in May 1994, 1st row above^) as the A33, to arrive midway through the 1999 model year as an early MY 2000 (2nd row above^).

A mild '97 MY refresh for the A32 was quickly developed for October 1996 intro (1st row above^, last 2 photos). The distinct platform planned for the 2003 model year Maxima (due in 2002) was canned by Ghosn in 1999 and instead made to be based on the new Altima platform (due in Sept '01), called FF-L and now pushed back to calendar year 2003 release as either a 2003.5 or MY 2004.

Parallel to that, regarding MPVs for the U.S. market, he agreed with Ford CEO Jacques Nasser and quietly ended the Nissan-Ford partnership on minivan development & production by 2000. That same year Ford approved a new design (V229 prog.) for what became the Windstar (WIN126) replacing Freestar launched in 2003, then rebadged as Mercury Monterey to be the Villager replacement. In parallel during 2000, Ghosn-appointed new design director from Isuzu, Shiro Nakamura, settled on (current Infiniti design lead) Alberto Albaisa's radical Quest design proposal, which would migrate to the FF-L platform (concept shown at 2002 NAIAS).

My problem that I've had with Ghosn is, the matter of cost-cutting at the risk of quality reduction and reliability, plus that of glaring product obsolescence in favour of pinching pennies and inability to attract suppliers that can reliably commit to strict deadlines. A greater issue I had is, the handling of the Infiniti brand. He did very well with them 15-16 years ago, but they were already reaching that turning point developmentally by 1998 (for future models), just not in a cost-efficient manner (too many unique platforms and JDM-only models).


I feel I cannot honestly 100% credit him for the renaissance of Infiniti in the early 2000s, even if he did very well with a significant portion of it. The 2002 (MY2003) G35--that so many WRONGLY credit him for--was already in development since about 1994-95, that by the time he arrived, the design was already done and only 2 years remained until its June 2001 JDM launch as the new Nissan Skyline (V35). He didn't dream it up at all.

A Skyline GT-R replacement (R35) was delayed (now separated from Skyline family), hence Ghosn surprisingly showing up Tokyo on October 26, 2001 to announce the very unexpected GT-R Concept at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show (photo above) next to the new Fairlady Z/350Z. What he did was cut costs and shift suppliers for the V35 programme and L31 Altima programmes, which also had styling approval from NDA San Diego in early 1999 before he arrived, even if presented the 2002 Altima at NYIAS on April 18, 2001.(1st photo below)

Even at that, one cannot entirely blame Ghosn for cost cutting. Nissan had already started such a process in the early-mid '90 s under CEOs Yoshifumi Tsuji (1992-96) and that of Yoshikazu Hanawa (1996-01), which allowed them to see their first profit in years in 1997. Of course, shortly after that things started falling apart again, with the various keiretsus being dismantled by Ghosn during 1999-2000. Nissan interiors were notably starting to decline as early as 1995ish, dropping significantly in 2001-02 and improved starting in late 2004-05.

Again regarding the Q45, the Gen III car (above) was not marketed enough and still dragged down by the baggage of previous generations. I hardly saw any ads for the Q45 during much of late 2001 and 2002, unless one went to their website. When the tech-laden last generation Q45 was not doing as well as it should, the mid-cycle F50 update in 2004 should've been more significant & more progressive, akin to a better designed substitute for the 2002-04 E65 BMW 7-Series, not regressing to back to an LS copycat like in 1996. The refreshed 2005 model year Q45 (photo below) was a regression, that even in my teens, I could see was a failure as a sporting luxury flagship. The next generation LS however, did borrow a bit from BMW and fixed the ills of the Bangle-guided designs.

To make things worse, the re-badged Cedric/Gloria (first 2 row above^) in the MY 2003 M45 (2002 intro, photo 3rd row above^), was too much of a JDM muscle car in design, but instead of utilizing the revolutionary dashboard the JDM market had been acquainted to since 1999 intro (previewed 2002 7-Series dash), they opted to toss in the same dash design from the Q45, sans the high-tech of the F50 Q45. It suffered in sales, despite many Jalopnik-type gear heads lusting after them today.

The redesigned Infiniti M (II) introduced in February 2005 for MY 2006 on a newer and larger application of the front mid-ship (FM-L), was so much more of a executive class contender (even against the new Lexus GS III). The first Infiniti to see significant interior quality improvements and evolution of the brand design language. It was so good, that it eclipsed the Gen III Q45's position as flagship and within 18 months, the Q went on hiatus (5.0 litre replacement was later canned during global crisis) and now even Q80 is at risk (new tidbit).

The FM platform benefited from significantly more Renault dependence and attention, while the Q45 was relegated to the background. Sure he introduced many great products to the lineup, especially those that entered development from 1999. Between the Sentra SE-R Spec V, Z Car, Murano, Infiniti FX, Titan, Armada, GT-R, Infiniti switching to RWD-only, embracing more daring design, and many other things, I give him credit for that, as that helped save the company and bring some needed freshness.

The thing about Nissan is, are they truly in a better position than they were back then? I am hearing things from different sides. That due to quality issues and that of suppliers having problems. One person, claims that new Q80 flagship is unattractive compared to the 2014 concept above. Also that, according to their "opinion", Infiniti has no more than 2 "confirmed for production" new models through 2020.(I don't believe this). Among those "confirmed " are the P71A QX50, which will be built in Mexico from November 2017, for February 2018 launch.

As the son of a Nissan shareholder, I am rather tired and disappointed in all of these delays that cause severe product obsolescence. This pattern of keeping models on the market way too long, was not typical of Nissan pre-2001 (outside of Hardbody and WD85 Pathfinder), so what really gives is what I ask?

Is it Ghosn, who by many respects is a wonderful person, but I always question if he is instrumental is these very occurrences and the revolving door of CEOs? Reportedly, many of them left as Ghosn refused to promote non-Japanese execs beyond a certain point, as in replacing him, and was too egoistic in some respects.

I look forward to what happens with Nissan, but that isn't saying much is it? They've had "financial concerns" for 30-35+ years under several CEOs, so I don't see when they'll be content with financial performance enough, to actually develop new and class-leading products on time with no quality glitches.

 

[mikeavelli]

Wow hell of a post. Ghosn is one hell of an auto executive. I am a huge fan of Nissan's product offerings currently and their marketing seems to get it. They are on a roll. I always find Nissan was overshadowed compared to have maybe the Koreans or American brands reinvented themselves.

I think what hurt Ghosn and his legacy was he got too crazy with some of his predictions and goals for the 2010-2020 years and they just never truly invested in Infiniti and decided what it was going to be.

Overall though, I tip my hat to the guy.

 

[mmcartalk]

Wow hell of a post. Ghosn is one hell of an auto executive. I am a huge fan of Nissan's product offerings currently and their marketing seems to get it. They are on a roll. I always find Nissan was overshadowed compared to have maybe the Koreans or American brands reinvented themselves.

I think what hurt Ghosn and his legacy was he got too crazy with some of his predictions and goals for the 2010-2020 years and they just never truly invested in Infiniti and decided what it was going to be.

Overall though, I tip my hat to the guy.

Agreed that it worked out for him in the end, but, if you remember, you and I weren't saying that about the crap Nissan interiors and cost-cutting of 10-15 years ago. I guess he did what he had to do, though.

 

[Carmaker1]

Thanks everyone. I remember him saying in a 2003ish interview, he had no regrets on cutting costs for Nissan and Infiniti interiors, as he knew from the beginning it was only a temporary measure. As soon as they returned to desired profitability to ensure survival, the budget would be applied towards quality interiors.

By 2002, they indeed made that focus with development and thus FM platform products at mid-cycle in the 2004-05 period, got these revisions in ditching of plastic for softer materials, genuine metal, and wood trim. It was the 2006 Infiniti M sedan, 2007 G sedan and 2008 EX35 that started fully implementing these measures.

That of the '08 QX56 refresh in early 2007, fixed this issue massively on the SUV end and also that of the redesigned FX in 2008. They took it up much further with the redesigned M and QX56 in 2010, with world-class interiors. Sadly, Infiniti saw no redesigns from 2010 peak until the JX in 2012 and Q50 in 2013 and hasn't seen much above that, save for the belatedly new Q60. The JX/QX60 interior is competitive, but not remarkable

The interiors are all dated by design, as the Q50 interior was hardly changed from the original pre-MB V37 interior proposal from 2009 for what was going to be the 2012 G37. By extension that affects the Q60 coupe, which on the inside has many similarities to the Q50. Nissan brand is a success story in some respects, has plenty of room to improve by keeping their model lineup as current as possible.



On a separate note (to correct my post above), the Shiro Nakamura (chief creative officer) will now retire from Nissan after 17 years with them. Lured from Isuzu to Nissan in 1999 by Ghosn, he was very influential in design of many 2002 to present designs from the Nissan brand. Alfonso Albaisa, head of Infiniti design since 2013, will replace him. Albaisa, will be replaced by BMW brand's ex-design director Karim Habib, who joined BMW in 1998 and left in March 2009 to MB, returning to BMW in February 2011.

 

[mikeavelli]

Agreed that it worked out for him in the end, but, if you remember, you and I weren't saying that about the crap Nissan interiors and cost-cutting of 10-15 years ago. I guess he did what he had to do, though.

Agreed but we both have to admit the cars sold and they improved each generation. Though I honestly cannot believe that third generation Altima interior. Maybe the worst interior I've ever seen in a modern day car. On the flipside I love the new Maxima in and out, extremely well done.

On a separate note (to correct my post above), the Shiro Nakamura (chief creative officer) will now retire from Nissan after 17 years with them. Lured from Isuzu to Nissan in 1999 by Ghosn, he was very influential in design of many 2002 to present designs from the Nissan brand. Alfonso Albaisa, head of Infiniti design since 2013, will replace him. Albaisa, will be replaced by BMW brand's ex-design director Karim Habib, who joined BMW in 1998 and left in March 2009 to MB, returning to BMW in February 2011.

Yeah I saw that, a big fan of Nakamura... A bit scared with the BMW choice, their new designs are mostly safe and meh. I just an head over heels over the Maxima...and I think most of the Nissan lineup looks great (I have a thing for the current Sentra lol).