Nissan announced on Tuesday that CEO Makoto Uchida will step down at the end of this month.
Current Chief Planning Officer Ivan Espinosa will be assuming the role starting in April in a bid to turn around the struggling Yokohama-based automaker.
Speculation was running high in recent weeks that Uchida would be taking responsibility for the failure of a proposed merger with Honda as well as poor earnings.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening, Uchida explained that he decided to step aside due to questions over his responsibility coming from both inside and outside the company.
¡°It is necessary to establish an environment where employees can work together as one to tackle challenges,¡± Uchida said.
¡°However, since I lost the trust of some of our employees ... I believe that the best course of action is to shift to a new management team and make a fresh start as soon as possible.¡±
Yasushi Kimura, chairman of Nissan¡¯s board of directors, said Espinosa has built a global career after many years at Nissan, so he is the most suitable person to lead the company at this challenging time.
¡°I¡¯m really excited to continue Uchida-san¡¯s work to help Nissan shine again,¡± Espinosa said. ¡°I sincerely believe that Nissan has so much more potential than what we are seeing today.¡±
He did not make specify how he plans on turning the company around.
Espinosa declined to comment when asked if he is considering reviving merger talks with Honda.
Uchida, 58, became Nissan CEO in 2019 and has led efforts to get the automaker back on its feet, but the initiatives have so far failed.
The company is expected to post an ?80 billion ($536 million) loss for the fiscal year ending March. In the first half of this fiscal year, Nissan¡¯s net profit fell about 90% mainly due to sluggish sales in North America and China while introducing a plan to cut 9,000 jobs.
Uchida recently sought a merger with Honda so that the two could combine forces in order to develop new products connected to automobiles, autonomous cars and electric vehicles.
However, the two automakers gave up on the merger, which would have created the world¡¯s No. 3 vehicle manufacturing group, last month, just weeks after talks formally started.
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