Incoming Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa has outlined plans to reinvigorate the struggling firm with a new product offensive, a more regionalised focus and investment in a broader spread of technologies to give it flexibility for the future.
The Japanese firm recently ousted CEO Makoto Uchida due to falling sales and financial woes and the collapse of a proposed merger deal with Honda.
Espinosa, currently Nissan’s chief planning officer, will officially take over as CEO in April but yesterday addressed a select group of media in an exclusive event at the firm’s technical centre in Atsugi, Japan.
The 46-year-old Mexican said that he was “proud to take Nissan forward”, adding that future “profitability is about balance.”
That would involve refreshing many of its combustion-engined models while continuing to invest in electric and hybrid technology.
“It’s about offering the right product at the right value,” he added.
Stabilisation is the first step
Espinosa noted that several steps to stabilise Nissan’s revenues and cut costs had already started under Uchida’s leadership and he intended to build on those.
He highlighted stabilising revenue flow – “the volume, the way we forecast and the way we deliver” – as one key target.
Another is that “costs have to be improved: both on the fixed and viable side”. Espinosa said measures already implemented to improve costs – including the closure of a number of factories – would be “expanded and accelerated”.
As well as a major focus on product, Espinosa said the firm was also looking “at extra measures to put in place” to aid the turnaround, although he said wasn't yet in a position to talk about them.
Regionalised product key to Nissan revival
Guillaume Cartier, Nissan’s performance officer, conceded that the firm faces “external challenges and internal challenges” but said it was approaching them “with humility”.
He added: “We will not tell you everything is perfect, and there are areas we have to address.”
A key focus will be on reducing fixed costs to ensure the firm can achieve profitability, but Cartier insisted it would “not be successful without product; product is central”.
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