Japan’s Nissan Motor and France’s Renault stated they would retool the world’s top automaking alliance to put themselves on more equal footing, breaking up the all-powerful chairmanship earlier wielded by ousted boss Carlos Ghosn.
The ouster of Ghosn, credited for rescuing Nissan from near-bankruptcy in 1999, had
The companies, together with Mitsubishi Motors, on
Nissan has stated that Ghosn wielded too much power, creating an absense of oversight and corporate governance. It was unclear who would become Nissan’s chairman, vacant since Ghosn was arrested in Japan in November.
But the automakers gave no sign of any immediate change in their cross-shareholding agreement, one that has given smaller Renault SA more sway over Nissan.
The so-called Restated Alliance Master Agreement that has bound them together so far is intact, they stated.
“We are fostering a new start of the alliance. There is nothing to do with the shareholdings and the cross-shareholdings that are still there and still in place,” stated Jean-Dominique Senard, Renault Chairman, at a news conference.
“Our future lies in the efficiency of this alliance,” he informed reporters at Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama.
Senard also stated he would not seek to be chairman of Nissan, but he was rather a “natural candidate” to be vice-chairman.
