Nissan has announced a major revamp to its top management structure in the wake of recent scandals. The company’s board of directors appointed current Nissan senior vice-president and president of Dongfeng Motor Co, Makoto Uchida as representative executive officer and CEO of Nissan.
In addition, the board appointed current Mitsubishi Motors Corporation’s COO Ashwani Gupta as representative executive officer and chief operating officer of Nissan. Nissan’s senior vice-president Jun Seki has been appointed to the position of vice-chief operating officer and will report to Gupta.
Uchida has been with Nissan Corporation for over 20 years and Gupta has been part of the organisation for over 19 years.
On April 1, 2017, Gupta was named Alliance senior VP of the Renault-Nissan LCV Business, and then Alliance senior VP of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi LCV Business since April 2018. Earlier this year, he was appointed COO, Mitsubishi Motor Corporation and representative executive officer, COO, Mitsubishi Motor Corporation.
Nissan says the appointments are aimed to be effective from January 1, 2020.
Commenting on the new management, Yasushi Kimura, chair of the Board of Directors, Nissan said: “The board concluded that Uchida is the right leader to drive the business forward. Nissan’s Nomination Committee led the nomination process and assessed candidates thoroughly in line with the new three-committee governance structure established in June. We expect Uchida to lead the company as one team, immediately focus on the recovery of the business and revitalize the company. We look forward to Gupta and Seki fully leveraging their expertise and experience to support the new CEO.”