Nissan boss denies plans to drop Mitsubishi – report
Nissan's COO has quashed rumours the company is planning to sell its share of Mitsubishi.
Nissan boss Ashwani Gupta has denied the car company is considering selling its large holding of Mitsubishi Motors.
Following a story from business publication Bloomberg overnight, the Chief Operating Officer told media Nissan was "absolutely not" planning to offload its 34 per cent stake in Mitsubishi, reports news outlet Reuters.
"We are not in any discussion or consideration of changing the capital structure in our partner companies," Mr Gupta said during a teleconference.
Nissan currently enjoys a three-way strategic partnership with Mitsubishi and Renault, spearheaded by former Nissan boss and fugitive Carlos Ghosn.
"We are moving ahead with many projects," Mr Gupta said of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
In September 2020, Mr Gupta (pictured below) revealed the next Nissan Micra would be based on a Renault product, while earlier this year, CarAdvice reported the next-generation Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton utes would share the same architecture.
The original Bloomberg report, which put forward the claim of Nissan disposing of its stake in Mitsubishi to help bolster its own financial position, cited people familiar with the matter – but stopped short of identifying its sources.
"There are no plans to change the capital structure with Mitsubishi," a statement from Nissan read.
Mitsubishi echoed the comments, saying it "will continue to collaborate within the alliance".
Stocks of both Nissan and Mitsubishi rose sharply on the back of the story.
Meanwhile, a civil trial began on Friday in Japan, in which Nissan is seeking ¥10B (AU$130M) in damages from ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn, who fled to Lebanon in late 2019 following allegations of fraud.
Mr Ghosn, who has maintained his innocence, announced in August 2020 he would be writing a book in which he outlines a conspiracy he claims was fabricated against him.
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