Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida will resign on April 1, with Chief Planning Officer Ivan Espinosa set to take over, marking the company’s fourth leadership change in eight years. Alongside Uchida, senior executives Asako Hoshino and Hideaki Watanabe will also step down.
The leadership overhaul comes just weeks after Nissan and Honda abandoned merger talks for a potential $60 billion deal that could have made them the world’s third-largest automaker by sales. The negotiations reportedly failed due to Nissan’s reluctance to close factories and Honda’s push to make Nissan a subsidiary with deeper job cuts. Sources cited internal tensions, describing the collapse as a result of “pride and denial” within Nissan.
Nissan’s financial troubles have compounded the situation. The automaker reported a 78% year-on-year drop in operating profit for Q3 2024, with a net loss of 14.1 billion yen ($95.7 million), reversing a previous profit of 29.1 billion yen. As a result, Nissan slashed its full-year revenue and profit forecasts, now expecting a net loss of 80 billion yen. The executive shakeup reflects an urgent effort to stabilize the company amid financial and strategic challenges.
