Japanese automaker Nissan’s chief executive steps down after dismal results

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TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co.’s chief executive, Makoto Uchida, is stepping down after the company reported dismal financial results.

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Nissan said in a statement Tuesday that Ivan Espinosa, who is now the company’s chief planning officer, will take Uchida’s place.

Espinosa, who joined Nissan in 2003, has spent much of his Nissan career in Mexico and Southeast Asia, overseeing product planning including the drive toward electric vehicles.

Uchida will remain as a director until Nissan’s general shareholders’ meeting. He had recently promised to make way for new leadership.

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Nissan did not immediately elaborate on the reasons for the personnel changes, except to say company leadership was being “renewed” to achieve long-term growth. Its executives were set to speak at a news conference later in the day.

Speculation about Uchida’s future was rife after he called off talks last month with Japanese rival Honda Motor Co., announced late last year, to set up a joint holding company to integrate its businesses. At the time, he told reporters the focus of the talks had changed to making Nissan into a Honda subsidiary, which he denounced as unacceptable.

He also said their strategic partnership to realize synergies on specific projects like electric vehicles and other research will continue.

Nissan is projecting a loss of 80 billion yen ($540 million) for the full fiscal year through the end of this month.

Apart from Uchida’s departure as chief executive, Nissan announced other sweeping managerial changes, including giving an expanded role to Guillaume Cartier, its chief performance officer, in global marketing and customer experience.

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Eiichi Akashi, corporate vice president of the Vehicle Planning and Vehicle Component Engineering Division, was named chief technology officer, succeeding Kunio Nakaguro.

Teiji Hirata, a corporate vice president, will become chief “monozukuri” officer and executive officer, responsible for manufacturing and supply chain management, replacing Hideyuki Sakamoto.

Jeremy Papin, the chief financial officer, was also appointed to be an executive officer. There was no change for Stephen Ma, who serves as chairperson of Nissan’s management committee in China.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.net/↕yurikageyama

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