After weeks of speculation, Japanese automaker Nissan (NSANY) officially named a new CEO to replace the outgoing Makoto Uchida.
According to a statement, Ivan Espinosa has been named as the new leader of Nissan during a March 11 board of directors meeting and will start their duties as its Global CEO on April 1.
As Uchida’s successor, Espinosa will be tasked with implementing an ambitious turnaround plan to save the ailing automaker’s fortune.
Nissan
Before his board appointment as global CEO, the 46-year-old wore many hats at Nissan. Since April 2024, he has served the company as its chief planning officer. He has previously led many different and important areas of the company, including global product planning and its motorsports division.
As a nearly 15-year Nissan veteran, Espinosa has gained a wealth of experience, especially in key markets like Southeast Asia and Mexico.
Espinosa comes as Nissan experiences a perfect storm of poor sales and mismatched product rollouts that have only worsened the company’s fortunes. Moody’s and other major credit rating agencies have listed the automaker as junk status after the fallout of merger talks with Honda.
This development follows reports that Honda was willing to resume merger negotiations if Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida resigned. According to a source who spoke with the Financial Times, Honda is willing to revive merger negotiations with a Nissan CEO who is more effective at managing internal opposition.
Previously, Japanese business publications named Nissan C-suite executives Jeremie Papin and Guillaume Cartier as possible successors to the helm.
Related: Nissan CEO’s days could be numbered after Honda fallout
“Given the circumstances of the company, it would be a very challenging start for Ivan,” Nissan Board of Directors chair Yasushi Kimura, said at an evening news conference.
During an evening news conference, the outgoing CEO apologized for his performance in the position and described the transition to Espinosa as akin to handing the keys to a new driver.
“Given that I am unable to gain the confidence of some of our employees and that the board made a request, I concluded that transitioning to the new top management and making a fresh start will be in the best interest of Nissan,” Uchida said. “I deeply regret that I had to pass the baton to my successor in these circumstances.”
Additionally, Uchida said that he trusts his successor by injecting Nissan with a younger generation’s new vision.
“Espinosa is still in his 40s and full of energy. He’s also a real car guy.”
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In his first remarks after being named new CEO, Espinosa did not give much away about what he would do differently. However, he expressed gratitude toward his fellow executives and noted that he would bring “stability and growth” back to Nissan.
Specifically in North America, he said that he’ll be looking at the entire operation and will prioritize reforming the U.S. lineup.
“I’m really excited to continue Uchida-san’s work to help Nissan shine again,” he said. “I sincerely believe that Nissan has so much more potential than what we are seeing today.”
The Nissan Motor Company trades on OTC markets in the United States as NSANY and on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the ticker number 7201.
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