Nissan’s consistent failures on a product, marketing, and business basis since the pandemic led to the company being somewhat forced into a merger with Honda. When that failed, it seemed like only a matter of time before Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida was shown the door. His replacement is a bit of a surprise, though, in that it’s Ivan Espinosa, the current head of product and, according to some, a ‘Real Car Guy.’
North American leadership is in vogue now, especially as Europe has waned as a market and China has gotten to be a less friendly place for non-Chinese automakers. Stellantis kicked out its European CEO, added more Americans to its board, and rehired or promoted American leadership. Hyundai took its head of North America and made him CEO of the whole company.
And now, Ivan Espinosa, a Mexican citizen, has been put in charge of Nissan. Here’s what the company said:
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today announced changes to its senior management, introducing a significantly renewed leadership line-up to achieve the company’s short- and mid-term objectives while positioning it for long-term growth.
Effective April 1, the board of directors has approved titles and areas of responsibility for the representative executive officer and executive officers. Ivan Espinosa, currently the chief planning officer, has been appointed as the representative executive officer, president, and CEO, succeeding Makoto Uchida.
This clearly wasn’t the outcome Uchida wanted and, quite recently, he was touting his own turnaround plans. Those were quickly interrupted when Taiwanese automaker Foxconn tried to buy shares in the company from former partner Renault. This led to a wild few weeks of Honda and Nissan trying to merge that ended with Nissan walking away from the deal. Much of the blame for the deal falling apart fell on Uchida, who was seen as too prideful and too slow to make hard choices.
What’s most interesting to me about the Espinosa choice is that he’s both quite young for an automotive CEO at just 46, and that he’s a product guy. His background is in planning and his most recent position was the chief product guy in charge of Global Product Planning, Global Program Management, and Motor Sports.
The best read on this so far is from Hans Griemel, who has him as a gearhead:
Espinosa joined Nissan in 2003, the same year as Uchida, 58. The outgoing boss said Espinosa brought a keen eye for product and a much-needed zeal for quick reform.
“Espinosa is still in his 40s and full of energy,” Uchida said. “He’s also a real car guy.”
Speaking at the press briefing, Espinosa deflected detailed questions about his thoughts on how to reform the company, what should be done differently or whether Nissan would try to resume merger talks with Honda or pursue partnerships with other companies.
“I’ve just been informed of this appointment, so I need some time to reflect,” he said.
But regarding North America, he said wants to implement at 360-degree look at the entire operation and prioritize “reinforcing our lineup” in the U.S. In China, Nissan will continue with locally-oriented electric vehicles for China, following on the recently released N7 sedan.
“We’re going to be looking at the whole system,” Espinosa said.
The funniest part of this is that the appointment wasn’t just a surprise to the motoring press, it was also a surprise to Espinosa, who admitted that he just found out he was getting the job. Given that no decision was reported yesterday, and that Espinosa’s name hasn’t come up in most talks.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Espinosa has a degree in mechanical engineering but pursued a more business-oriented education after that at Northwestern and the Harvard Business School.
As someone who has been watching this from the sidelines and was recently surprised that a Nissan vehicle was pretty good, this seems like a welcome change. It’ll be interesting to see if this is just a prelude to a new round of talks with Honda, or if Espinosa will try to stand out as a new titan of industry who carries the company forward without the help.
Say Uchida, would you step into this packing crate for a minute?