Ending weeks of rumors and speculation, Nissan announced that CEO Makoto Uchida will step down on March 31. Uchida was under a lot of pressure to resign as Nissan navigated through falling sales, rising debt, and a failed merger with Honda. Ivan Espinosa, who is currently the brand’s chief planning officer, will replace Uchida on April 1. Nissan also shuffled several other executive positions to find a path to recovery.
The 46-year-old Espinosa joined Nissan in 2003 as a product planner in the brand’s Mexican division. He’s held a dozen positions within the brand since, so he brings a massive amount of experience to the CEO’s office, but the problems that he will need to solve are massive as well.
Nissan’s challenges are well documented. In November 2024, insiders admitted that the company had “12 to 14 months to survive” if it didn’t find an investor, as executives announced plans to slash 9,000 jobs (which represents about 6% of the workforce) and reduce the group’s global production capacity by 20%. Nissan is facing headwinds in the United States and China, two of the biggest markets in the world. The merger with Honda blew up, and it still hasn’t found an investor. In theory, Nissan now has less than a year to live. So, what’s next?
What Uchida’s resignation means for the canceled merger with Honda isn’t clear yet. The tie-up was announced in December 2024 and—initially—presented as an alliance that would place Honda and Nissan on equal footing in spite of the vast differences in size and revenue that separate them. Mitsubishi, which Nissan has a 24% stake in, was roped into the negotiations as well, though it reportedly left the talks in January.
Honda and Nissan could have instantly formed the world’s third-largest carmaker (behind Toyota and Volkswagen), leveraged each other’s strengths, and saved a not-insignificant amount of money on research and development and purchasing. Honda could’ve built cars in the factory that Nissan operates in Sunderland, England, for example. It’s not terribly far-fetched to imagine that Nissan would use Honda’s technology to fast-track hybrids to production, or that Honda might tap Nissan’s EV experience.
Above all, the merger presented Nissan with the lifeboat it needed to stay afloat. Executives from both companies pegged August 2026 as a potential merger date, but the talks collapsed last month. Insiders familiar with the negotiations reported that what started as a merger of equals morphed into a full-on takeover by Honda, which is worth nearly five times more than Nissan and stands on sturdy financial footing.
Nissan refused to become a Honda subsidiary and landed back on square one. Vague, unofficial reports claimed a former Japanese politician wanted to pitch the brand to Tesla, while Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer Foxconn has long been mooted as a potential buyer. Honda could re-enter the picture now that Uchida is out of the frame, however. In February, insiders told the Financial Times that Honda was open to resuming talks if Nissan got rid of its CEO.
Honda hasn’t commented on the game of musical chairs that just went down in Nissan’s boardroom.
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