Uchida to step down as Nissan CEO
Japan's Nissan Motor Co. on Tuesday said that President and CEO Makoto Uchida will step down.
Uchida, 58, will be succeeded by Chief Planning Officer Ivan Espinosa, 46, on April 1.
Many within the automaker had been urging Uchida to take responsibility for the collapse of its merger talks with Honda Motor Co.
Uchida told an online news conference Tuesday that he has decided to resign as he became "unable to gain the confidence" of some employees following the turmoil caused by the collapse of the merger talks.
"I've concluded that it's best to make a fresh start under a new management," he also said.
Along with Uchida, Executive Vice President Hideyuki Sakamoto, 68, and three other executives will step down March 31.
Uchida and Sakamoto will continue to serve as board directors until a general meeting of shareholders in June.
"There's a lot of potential for Nissan in the future," Espinosa told the same news conference. "I think we can unlock a lot of possibilities."
He said that Nissan will boost its sales in the US and Chinese markets, which have been sluggish, by launching new models.
Hit hard by stagnant business results of its US and Chinese operations, Nissan is expected to suffer a consolidated net loss of 80 billion yen for the current fiscal year ending this month.
The company is working out details of its planned cost cuts, considering shedding 9,000 employees worldwide and closing three plants.
Uncertainty is also rising over Nissan's future business environment due to US President Donald Trump's tariff policy, with the automaker having many production bases in Mexico.
Uchida took office as president and CEO in December 2019 and worked on streamlining the company's excess production capacity mainly in Europe and Asia.
While he also took part in discussions on a collaboration with Honda and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., his efforts were not enough to turn his firm's business around.
Merger talks with Honda broke down last month after just two months due to the firms' differing views on their post-merger framework.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Photo by Reuters
