Renault ousts CEO days after Nissan gets a new one
#1
Renault ousts CEO days after Nissan gets a new one
Newly-appointed interim CEO Clotilde Delbos and Chairman of Renault SA Jean-Dominique Senard
Renault ousted chief executive Thierry Bollore on Friday, as the French carmaker and its Japanese partner Nissanseek to rekindle their alliance following the scandal-hit tenure of former alliance supremo Carlos Ghosn.
Tensions between Renault and Nissan, which picked a new CEO on Tuesday, have been high since Ghosn's arrest in Tokyo last year on allegations of financial misconduct, which he denies.
Bollore, who was close to Ghosn and had strained relations with Nissan's previous boss, will be replaced on an interim basis by Renault finance director Clotilde Delbos.
With new faces at the helm, Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard is hoping to draw a line under almost a year of turmoil and revive cooperation between two carmakers once seen as destined to fully merge.
That is vital at a time when auto markets are slowing and carmakers are having to invest in costly new technologies as well as meet challenging European emissions regulations.
"We're at a new stage now for this alliance. Sometimes you need new management ... to breathe new life into things," Senard, who was brought in earlier this year from tyre maker Michelin, told a news conference in Paris.
He said three members of Renault's 18-strong board abstained in the vote to remove Bollore, who hit out at his looming dismissal in a newspaper interview the night before, calling it a coup.
Following Ghosn's arrest, a feeling of stagnation around joint Renault-Nissan projects, including on issues such as advancing on cost savings, had begun to set in, people at Renault have said. These would now be the first priority, according to a source close to the carmaker.
"There are a lot of concrete matters that have already been identified, including on the industrial front: working on batteries, electric vehicles, connectivity, purchasing and self-driving cars," the source said.
Tensions between Renault and Nissan were further inflamed this year, including during various spats over governance reforms, and after a failed deal to pair Renault up with Fiat Chrysler, which withdrew a merger offer.
Senard reiterated on Friday that a tie-up with Fiat, which was abandoned in June, was not at present on the agenda.
The chairman denied there had been pressure from Nissan or from the French state — which has a 15% stake in Renault — to remove Bollore in a kind of quid pro quo.
"It so happens that Nissan's governance has shifted. There is no link between the two," Senard said. "At no time did anyone from Nissan put the question of Mr Bollore on the table."
Renault, the dominant partner in the alliance with a 43% stake in Nissan, named two deputies to back up Delbos - top sales executive Olivier Murguet and a senior manufacturing and supply chain chief, Jose-Vicente de los Mozos.
The triumvirate has echoes of the new top team announced on Tuesday by Nissan.
The Japanese firm picked Makoto Uchida, previously the head of its Chinese business, to replace Hiroto Saikawa, who stepped down as CEO in September after he admitted to being improperly overpaid.
Uchida is known for close ties to Renault, which could help mend fences in the alliance.
Saikawa and Bollore barely spoke and were seen as clear irritants to the relationship between the two companies, French official and company sources told Reuters in June.
Before his ouster, Ghosn had been working on a plan for a full merger of Renault and Nissan, but had met resistance in Japan, which is concerned about French government influence in the alliance.
Bollore said he had only found out his job could be on the line in a French press report on Tuesday.
"The brutality and the totally unexpected character of what is happening are stupefying. ... This coup de force is very worrying," he told Les Echos newspaper on Thursday evening.
Tensions between Renault and Nissan, which picked a new CEO on Tuesday, have been high since Ghosn's arrest in Tokyo last year on allegations of financial misconduct, which he denies.
Bollore, who was close to Ghosn and had strained relations with Nissan's previous boss, will be replaced on an interim basis by Renault finance director Clotilde Delbos.
With new faces at the helm, Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard is hoping to draw a line under almost a year of turmoil and revive cooperation between two carmakers once seen as destined to fully merge.
That is vital at a time when auto markets are slowing and carmakers are having to invest in costly new technologies as well as meet challenging European emissions regulations.
"We're at a new stage now for this alliance. Sometimes you need new management ... to breathe new life into things," Senard, who was brought in earlier this year from tyre maker Michelin, told a news conference in Paris.
He said three members of Renault's 18-strong board abstained in the vote to remove Bollore, who hit out at his looming dismissal in a newspaper interview the night before, calling it a coup.
Following Ghosn's arrest, a feeling of stagnation around joint Renault-Nissan projects, including on issues such as advancing on cost savings, had begun to set in, people at Renault have said. These would now be the first priority, according to a source close to the carmaker.
"There are a lot of concrete matters that have already been identified, including on the industrial front: working on batteries, electric vehicles, connectivity, purchasing and self-driving cars," the source said.
Tensions between Renault and Nissan were further inflamed this year, including during various spats over governance reforms, and after a failed deal to pair Renault up with Fiat Chrysler, which withdrew a merger offer.
Senard reiterated on Friday that a tie-up with Fiat, which was abandoned in June, was not at present on the agenda.
The chairman denied there had been pressure from Nissan or from the French state — which has a 15% stake in Renault — to remove Bollore in a kind of quid pro quo.
"It so happens that Nissan's governance has shifted. There is no link between the two," Senard said. "At no time did anyone from Nissan put the question of Mr Bollore on the table."
Renault, the dominant partner in the alliance with a 43% stake in Nissan, named two deputies to back up Delbos - top sales executive Olivier Murguet and a senior manufacturing and supply chain chief, Jose-Vicente de los Mozos.
The triumvirate has echoes of the new top team announced on Tuesday by Nissan.
The Japanese firm picked Makoto Uchida, previously the head of its Chinese business, to replace Hiroto Saikawa, who stepped down as CEO in September after he admitted to being improperly overpaid.
Uchida is known for close ties to Renault, which could help mend fences in the alliance.
Saikawa and Bollore barely spoke and were seen as clear irritants to the relationship between the two companies, French official and company sources told Reuters in June.
Before his ouster, Ghosn had been working on a plan for a full merger of Renault and Nissan, but had met resistance in Japan, which is concerned about French government influence in the alliance.
Bollore said he had only found out his job could be on the line in a French press report on Tuesday.
"The brutality and the totally unexpected character of what is happening are stupefying. ... This coup de force is very worrying," he told Les Echos newspaper on Thursday evening.
#2
Lexus Fanatic
On a slightly aside note, I wonder what's going to happen with Ghosn? Most of you know that he was arrested twice, in Tokyo, on what were, essentially, embezzlement charges. He lost his corporate positions at both Renault/Nissan, and, I presume, is awaiting trial on the charges.
#4
Lexus Fanatic
You can go back some years, but Cynthia Trudell ran the Saturn Division for awhile. Barbara Samardzich is CEO of Ford of Europe. There are also a number of female Execs just under the CEO level, in top management.
#6
Lexus Champion
On a slightly aside note, I wonder what's going to happen with Ghosn? Most of you know that he was arrested twice, in Tokyo, on what were, essentially, embezzlement charges. He lost his corporate positions at both Renault/Nissan, and, I presume, is awaiting trial on the charges.
#7
Lexus Fanatic
Ghosn, is in a world of hurt. He is under house arrest and is not allowed to speak with his wife and other people that the Japanese attorney general has specified due to potential evidence tampering. I believe the trail is set for March or April. I don't see a good out come here. My guess is many millions of dollars in fines and maybe a potential jail sentence of maybe up to 5 years. Just so you know, this is my opinion on what facts have been produced thus far. Even if this does not happen, I really fail to see any sort of an acquittal with no charges at all.
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#8
Lexus Champion
Julia Hamp is a complete different story. She was never in a position to be made an example of. Ghosn, however, perceived to be evading taxes at the helm of a Japanese company. I really do believe that if if was just a few hundred thousand of dollars that it would have ended in just some fines, but b/c the attorney general believes that it is several tens of millions that they can't let this go.
#9
Lexus Fanatic
Ghosn, however, perceived to be evading taxes at the helm of a Japanese company. I really do believe that if if was just a few hundred thousand of dollars that it would have ended in just some fines, but b/c the attorney general believes that it is several tens of millions that they can't let this go.
Back to the OP, I'd like see an independent Nissan again, although I doubt that it will happen....auto companies have become just too dependent on one another. If you can remember the Nissan products of the 1990s (which I'm pretty sure you do, as do many of us), before Renault took over, they really did some excellent and well-made vehicles. I particularly remember the small Sentra SE-R two-door sedan of the early 1990s. That was enormously popular in this area..a two-door Sentra with a 140 HP four (which doesn't sound like much today but was in a small, light, agile, and quite responsive vehicle) and had a true three-pedal manual transmission. Even in D.C.-area traffic, people loved it. I remember one morning I was up at a local Mazda/Nissan shop, helping a friend of mine to buy a new Mazda Protege. SE-Rs were coming out of the car-wash bay and being prepared for customer deliveries almost as fast as we could speak. If my memory is right, the place sold four or five of them just that one morning.
#11
Lexus Fanatic
#12
Lexus Test Driver
#13
Lexus Fanatic
I think Renault simply knows better than to try and sell vehicles here again under their own nameplate. Like Fiat, they were forced out of the U.S. in the 1980s because of poor build-quality and reliability. (the ill-fated Eagle Premier, sold by Chrysler, was also a Renault product). Fiat, of course, made another try, but has been hanging on by a thread....and is going to drop the 500.
Like I said earlier, IMO Nissan needs to be independent and free to design their own products again (as Mazda finally got out from under Ford's oversight). Although it wasn't necessarily helping their bottom line, Nissan, IMO, designed their best products in the 1990s, before the Renault takeover.
Like I said earlier, IMO Nissan needs to be independent and free to design their own products again (as Mazda finally got out from under Ford's oversight). Although it wasn't necessarily helping their bottom line, Nissan, IMO, designed their best products in the 1990s, before the Renault takeover.
Last edited by mmarshall; 10-17-19 at 06:01 AM.
#14
I would not be surprised at all if M. Ghosn cheated, but at the same time it seems there is a more profound problem between Renault and Nissan (otherwise M.Bollore would not have been ousted soon after the event) that precipitated his fall
And if that is the case, proposing a merger with FCA surely strained the relationship even more.
Maybe Nissan strategists have a different vision of the future and don't think bigger means better. Having a Renault-Nissan-FCA alliance would have meant cost cutting in the short term but also potentially very expensive mistakes in the long run...
And if that is the case, proposing a merger with FCA surely strained the relationship even more.
Maybe Nissan strategists have a different vision of the future and don't think bigger means better. Having a Renault-Nissan-FCA alliance would have meant cost cutting in the short term but also potentially very expensive mistakes in the long run...
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