Carlos Ghosn is poised to become the CEO of three different automakers at the same time, as Nissan is ready to appoint the 62-year old man at the helm of Mitsubishi Motors.
Published by AutomotiveNewsEurope, which is citing Nikkei, Reuters, and Bloomberg, the information states that Ghosn has already spoken to Mitsubishi President and Chairman, Osamu Masuko, asking him to remain president once Nissan takes control of the smaller automaker. The Renault-Nissan Alliance has yet to confirm the report, as a spokesperson has called it nothing else than pure “speculation”, while Mitsubishi is following a similar pattern and refuses to comment.
SBI Securities’ auto analyst Koji Endo says that once Carlos Ghosn grabs the reins at Mitsubishi, he will be able “to do things he did at Nissan, such as combining platforms, cutting costs and even closing plants. In order to implement such massive restructuring, you need someone as powerful as Ghosn to get things going.“
Nicknamed “Le Cost Killer” after taking some radical decisions within Renault and Nissan, Carlos Ghosn’s new job is not seen with the same eyes by everyone, as Frankfurt-based analyst with AlphaValue, Hans-Peter Wodniok, commented: “I think he has enough work to be done at both Renault and Nissan. He should also spend all his time in these two companies rather than taking on another job in Japan.“
Nissan admitted earlier this year that it will buy a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi for roughly $2.3 billion, after the latter was caught falsifying the mileage in several vehicles, including two made for Nissan. The deal is set to be closed by the end of this year.
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