Nissan CEO Uchida to step down on April 1, Espinosa to take over

Investing.com -- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201) CEO Makoto Uchida will step down on April 1, the company announced in a release Tuesday.

Chief Planning Officer Ivan Espinosa will take over as his successor.

Nissan (OTC:NSANY) shares rose 1.4% in Japan. 

The leadership change follows the recent collapse of merger discussions between Nissan and Honda (NYSE:HMC).

Espinosa, who has been with Nissan since 2003, currently oversees corporate strategy. Uchida is set to leave at the end of March.

Espinosa steps into the top job at Nissan with the challenge of reviving the automaker’s struggling business and securing a new strategic partner after merger talks with Honda collapsed. Pulled from a relatively thin leadership bench, he takes over a company that has faced turmoil since the 2018 ouster of Carlos Ghosn, who once led Nissan’s turnaround.

Uchida’s leadership came under pressure in November after Nissan reported a 94% drop in fiscal half-year net income, alongside plans to cut 9,000 jobs and scale back production by 20%.

The following month, he signed an agreement with Honda to form a joint holding company, a deal that could have strengthened Nissan’s position against rivals like Toyota (NYSE:TM) and emerging players such as China’s BYD (SZ:002594).

However, the deal collapsed in February as the two automakers failed to reconcile differences over control.

“Various options” were considered, including Honda’s proposal to restructure the deal by making Nissan a subsidiary through a share exchange.

But the merger ultimately fell apart due to Nissan’s “pride and denial” and its resistance to closing factories, while Honda’s push to make Nissan its subsidiary further clouded the talks, according to a Reuters report. Honda was also reportedly advocating for deeper staff cuts at Nissan.

The two carmakers have stated they will “collaborate within the framework of a strategic partnership aimed at the era of intelligence and electrified vehicles.”