- Makoto Uchida, President and CEO of Nissan since 2019, has stepped down from his role.
- Ivan Espinosa, current chief planning officer, will replace Uchida, effective April 1st.
- Nissan’s board of directors has also decided on a new round of management changes.
Nissan has announced big changes to its senior management team, highlighted by the stepping down of its CEO, Makoto Uchida.
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According to the official announcement, Nissan’s chief planning officer, Ivan Espinosa, gets promoted to representative executive officer, president, and CEO, effective April 1, 2025. Espinosa will replace Uchida, who spent over five years in the role.
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Yasushi Kimura, Independent Outside Director and Chair of the Board of Directors said: “Given the industry-wide challenges and Nissan’s performance, we believe that it is necessary as well as appropriate to change the top management team. Nissan is in the midst of transformation. We believe we chose the right person who is qualified to lead the company in these times.”
On his part, Uchida said: “I have been saying that my stepping down is to be decided by the board of directors. As I said last month, I believe that clarifying the director of Nissan as soon as possible and quickly passing the baton to my successor is the way to take responsibility as the CEO of the company. To this end I have been striving to improve Nissan’s performance.
“However, since we unveiled the turnaround actions last fall, people not only outside the company but also inside, started to question my responsibility. The top priority of Nissan today is to break away of the current situation as quickly as possible and bring the company back in the growth track”.
Uchida took over the reigns at Nissan in 2019, shortly after the Carlos Ghosn scandal. His leadership brought profits in 2022 and 2023, although 2024 was a difficult year with declining sales and bad financial results. This led to the announcement of a restructuring plan, including production cuts and layoffs.
The recent collapse in the merger talks with Honda over control issues has forced Nissan to look for other partners in order to survive. At the same time, the automaker is quite vulnerable to Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs for Japanese imports, with US being its biggest market.
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All these problems have contributed to the departure of the CEO, who will remain a director until the annual general meeting of shareholders in June 2025.
More Management Changes
Nissan has also announced major changes to its Executive Committee, expanding the role of certain executives and replacing others. This is the second round of management shakeup following the previous changes effective January 1.
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Besides Makoto Uchida, other high-ranking executives that will be leaving Nissan include Kunio Nakaguro (Chief Technology Officer), Hideyuki Sakamoto (Chief Monozukuri Officer and Executive Officer, responsible for Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management), Asako Hoshino (Chief Brand & Customer Officer), and Hideaki Watanabe (Chief Strategy & Corporate Affairs Officer).
According to the Japanese automaker, the “significantly renewed leadership lineup” will help achieve it’s “short- and mid-term objectives while positioning it for long-term growth”. Below, you can watch the online press conference that streamed earlier today.
