Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa to Step Down, but Only After Taking Out Some Trash

by Steph Willems

Published: January 25th, 2019

nissan ceo hiroto saikawa to step down but only after taking out some trash

Claiming he wants a fresh start for the scandal-rocked Renault-Nissan Alliance, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa announced on Friday his intention to move aside in the coming months, giving someone else a chance to run the company.

Alliance partner Renault divested itself of former CEO Carlos Ghosn this week, two months after the executive’s Tokyo arrest. With this in mind, Saikawa, who denounced the alliance boss at length following news of his arrest, suggested a change in leadership would be a good thing for Nissan, too. However, there’s work to be done first.

According to Bloomberg, the 65-year-old president and CEO, who rose to the big office in April of 2017, wants to “pass the baton.”

Before attaining the top spot at Nissan, Saikawa served as co-CEO following a three-year stint as chief competitive officer. A Nissan lifer, Saikawa joined the company in 1977, eventually proving himself a shrewd manager who followed Ghosn’s orders to the letter.

Ghosn’s arrest strained the two-decade relationship between the two automakers. Nissan was first to expose Ghosn’s alleged wrongdoings; yesterday’s ouster of Ghosn from Renault and replacement by new chairman Jean-Dominique Senard could go a long way to mending that rift. Now, Saikawa wants his company to do its part. Bloomberg reports the chief executive wants to shake up the automaker’s top ranks before leaving, blaming poor governance for its recent woes.

Last year, amid falling profits, Nissan abandoned its volume chasing ways, slashing incentives in a bid to firm up the automaker’s balance sheet.

In a Friday press conference, Saikawa said Renault’s new boss is “someone I respect fully,” before pouring ice water on any talk of a full merger between the two companies.

[Image: Nissan]

#HirotoSaikawa #Nissan #Renault-NissanAlliance

Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 5 comments

Mdanda on Jan 25, 2019

So Ghosn intends to fire Saikawa and merge Nissan with Renault, but the Japanese government says, no, we really don't want you to do that so we'll arrest you instead. Okay, got it. But Saikawa doesn't keep his job after all and he ends up retiring anyway....hmmmm....

Like Reply
- SPPPP on Jan 25, 2019
  
  Well, now they get to influence who will be chosen as successor. And they can "prove" that Ghosn's plans for Saikawa's firing had "nothing to do with the criminal proceedings".
  
  Like
Conundrum on Jan 29, 2019

Ghosn doesn't look that guilty, according to an article in the Nikkei, Japan's leading business daily. Nissan is looking more and more like a complete bunch of xenophobic backstabbers and incompetents at the top: https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Ghosn-charges-are-thin-soup-case-for-ex-Nissan-boss Read that and wonder, especially now the SEC is going after some Nissan disclosures as it affected business in the US. Ramen and rice, no heat in the cell, no bed and stone floor, and character assassination by repeatedly bringing new charges to prolong incarceration prior to trial - all in a day's work for the Japanese legal system by the look of it. Medieval as I see it.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Honda1 Unions were needed back in the early days, not needed know. There are plenty of rules and regulations and government agencies that keep companies in line. It's just a money grad and nothing more. Fain is a punk!
1995 SC If the necessary number of employees vote to unionize then yes, they should be unionized. That's how it works.
Sobhuza Trooper That Dave Thomas fella sounds like the kind of twit who is oh-so-quick to tell us how easy and fun the bus is for any and all of your personal transportation needs. The time to get to and from the bus stop is never a concern. The time waiting for the bus is never a concern. The time waiting for a connection (if there is one) is never a concern. The weather is never a concern. Whatever you might be carrying or intend to purchase is never a concern. Nope, Boo Cars! Yeah Buses! Buses rule!Needless to say, these twits don't actual take the damn bus.
MaintenanceCosts Nobody here seems to acknowledge that there are multiple use cases for cars.Some people spend all their time driving all over the country and need every mile and minute of time savings. ICE cars are better for them right now.Some people only drive locally and fly when they travel. For them, there's probably a range number that works, and they don't really need more. For the uses for which we use our EV, that would be around 150 miles. The other thing about a low range requirement is it can make 120V charging viable. If you don't drive more than an average of about 40 miles/day, you can probably get enough electrons through a wall outlet. We spent over two years charging our Bolt only through 120V, while our house was getting rebuilt, and never had an issue.Those are extremes. There are all sorts of use cases in between, which probably represent the majority of drivers. For some users, what's needed is more range. But I think for most users, what's needed is better charging. Retrofit apartment garages like Tim's with 240V outlets at every spot. Install more L3 chargers in supermarket parking lots and alongside gas stations. Make chargers that work like Tesla Superchargers as ubiquitous as gas stations, and EV charging will not be an issue for most users.
MaintenanceCosts I don't have an opinion on whether any one plant unionizing is the right answer, but the employees sure need to have the right to organize. Unions or the credible threat of unionization are the only thing, history has proven, that can keep employers honest. Without it, we've seen over and over, the employers have complete power over the workers and feel free to exploit the workers however they see fit. (And don't tell me "oh, the workers can just leave" - in an oligopolistic industry, working conditions quickly converge, and there's not another employer right around the corner.)