Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida came under fire at the company’s extraordinary shareholders’ meeting, with some attendees voicing their frustration for the slow revival of the car maker.
The Nissan boss, who faced repeated heckling by shareholders according to Reuters, repeated that the revival plan will be announced in May, giving time to the company to coordinate their strategy with their alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi.
“That’s a little too late, isn’t it?” one shareholder said about the May timeline. Uchida pleaded for patience. “If you can be patient a little bit longer, on a day-to-day basis you will be able to sense we are changing,” he said.
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Uchida and his team is working on a recovery plan which will include big cost-cutting, especially in North America. “The plan is underway today, fast,” Uchida said. “The direction we are following is not wrong. We are going to reduce our expenses in North America with no taboos whatsoever.”
“We will make sure that we steer the company in an effective way so that it is visible in the eyes of viewers. I will commit to this: if the circumstances remain uncertain you can fire me immediately,” Uchida added.
Some of the shareholders wanted more clarity about Uchida’s recovery plan, voicing their concern on issues like transparency into the company’s probe into Ghosn and the resignation of ex-CEO Hiroto Saikawa as Nissan’s shares are trading around their lowest level in more than a decade.
“At the moment, the share price has dropped again, and the value of the company has plummeted,” said another shareholder. “If this is the situation, part of me thinks that we would be better off with Ghosn. If we don’t get a clearer vision of the path the company is taking, it will be a worry.”
