By Daniel Leussink
YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) -Nissan on Tuesday named Ivan Espinosa its next chief executive, tapping the two-decade company veteran with deep product experience to revive a once-storied brand now tarnished by years of scandal, management turmoil and faltering sales.
The appointment of 46-year-old Espinosa, a Mexican national and Nissan’s chief planning officer, ends weeks of speculation over who would succeed Makoto Uchida at the head of Japan’s third-largest carmaker. He will start his post on April 1.
Espinosa first joined Nissan in Mexico in 2003 and has also held positions in Southeast Asia and Europe.
Uchida had come under increasing pressure to step down following Nissan’s worsening earnings and the collapse this year of merger talks with Honda, sources have said.
It was not clear whether Espinosa’s appointment, part of a broader shake-up of Nissan’s top management, would put the merger talks back on the table or open the possibility of investment from another partner.
The automaker has been badly hurt in key markets such as China, where fast-rising local players like BYD have gobbled up its market share, and in the United States, where its ageing line-up is long overdue for an overhaul.
“He’s a very passionate product guy,” said Christopher Richter, Japan auto analyst at brokerage CLSA.
“I think it sends a good signal that Nissan wants to give product a higher priority because the Nissan brand has been drifting for a long time and not really standing for that much.”
COMPANY VETERAN
Espinosa has experience in product planning and development and has managed Nissan’s global product strategy and portfolio. He has been in his current role since April 2024, a job he took up as part of a shake-up aimed at accelerating the pivot to electric vehicles.
After Nissan’s announcement of the appointment, Espinosa said he was still digesting the news.
“We can unlock a lot of possibilities,” he said, declining to comment on the possibility of restarting talks with Honda.
The nomination committee had narrowed down the possible candidates to a handful of people, and thought Espinosa was the most suitable as CEO, Nissan chairman Yasushi Kimura said.
Other senior Nissan executives who are stepping down from their positions include Hideyuki Sakamoto, who oversees manufacturing and supply chain management, and chief technology officer Kunio Nakaguro, Nissan said in a statement.
The company has been beset by years of faltering sales and management turmoil, never fully recovering from a hit to its brand following the 2018 ouster of former chairman Carlos Ghosn, who was accused by Tokyo prosecutors of financial misconduct.
Nissan reported a sharp 78% drop in third-quarter profit and cut its full-year outlook for the third time in February.
Longtime rivals Nissan and Honda had been discussing a tie-up to create a $60 billion company but talks fell apart after Honda proposed making Nissan a subsidiary, sources have said.
Sources have previously told Reuters that Nissan was open to working with new partners after the talks with Honda foundered, with Taiwan’s Foxconn seen as one candidate.
DEEPER PROBLEMS
Nearly all legacy auto brands are having to contend with Chinese EV makers, which have upended the industry with sleek software-rich cars. But Nissan is struggling to overcome deeper problems such as its failure to launch hybrids in the United States and the turmoil left in the wake of Ghosn’s exit.
It also faces potential tariffs on vehicles it exports to the U.S. from Mexico, a major manufacturing hub.
The worsening demand that Nissan has seen for its cars in key markets the U.S. and China have put pressure on its business performance. Analysts have warned it could increasingly face long-term pressure if it would not turn its business around.
Fitch Ratings last month cut Nissan’s rating to “junk,” snuffing out its last remaining investment-grade status from a major credit rating agency and highlighting uncertainty over the company’s turnaround plan.
“Nissan’s got to hurry up and make a lot of cuts and get back to profitability, but not cut so deeply that you can’t invest in product,” Richter said.
($1 = 147.4900 yen)
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink in Yokohama; Additional reporting by Gilles Guillaume in Paris; Editing by David Dolan, Edwina Gibbs and Bernadette Baum)
