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Nissan China chief appointed as next CEO

The brand's new CEO and COO named have been named, as it attempts to make a clean break from a tumultuous few years.


The board of directors at Nissan have selected a new CEO: Makoto Uchida, the current head of the company's operations in China.

Aside from heading up one of Nissan's more successful divisions, Uchida also has extensive experience with alliance partner Renault.

The relationship between Nissan and Renault has become fractured since the arrest of Carlos Ghosn, the former CEO of both companies, and this year's failed merger between Renault and Fiat Chrysler.

Uchida started his career at Nissan in 2003. From 2014 he spent at few years working for Renault Samsung Motors, Renault's South Korean subsidiary, and in 2018 he became head of Nissan China, as well as president of Dongfeng, Nissan's production partner in China.

It's not clear when Uchida will replace interim CEO Yasuhiro Yamauchi, but the company says the transfer of power will take place no later than January 1, 2020.

Accompanying Uchida into the boardroom is Ashwani Gupta, who will become Nissan's new chief operating officer (COO). Gupta is currently COO at Mitsubishi Motors, which Nissan owns a 34 per cent controlling stake in.

Like Uchida, Gupta has experience with Renault. In 1996 Gupta begin his career in the automotive sector at Honda India, where he rose to become the company's head of new model development.

He jumped ship to Renault India in 2006 where he was general manager in charge of purchasing. In 2011 he took a senior role at Datsun, Nissan's low cost marque, and in 2014 became the head of the alliance's light commercial vehicle division. He became Mitsubishi COO earlier this year.

It's not clear what role Yamauchi will play at Nissan after Uchida takes over, as Yamauchi was COO prior to being appointed temporary CEO.

The new management team has been instructed to "immediately focus on the recovery of the business and revitalise the company".

Over the past few years Nissan has been rocked by a series of scandals, starting in late 2017 with a temporary production halt and the recall of 1.2 million domestic market vehicles for improperly-conducted final inspections.

In November 2018, chairman Ghosn was arrested for underreporting his income and inappropriately using company funds. He was denounced by his hand-picked successor, Hiroto Saikawa, for concentrating too much power in his own hands.

Saikawa tendered his resignation this September after it was revealed he had been overcompensated as part of the company's stock appreciation rights scheme.

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