YOKOHAMA: Nissan on Tuesday named chief planning officer Ivan Espinosa to take the helm from April 1, marking the end to weeks of speculation over who would succeed Makoto Uchida as leader of the troubled Japanese carmaker.

Nissan made the announcement in a statement, confirming that Uchida would be stepping down. The automaker said it would hold a press conference at 0930 GMT.

Uchida had been under pressure to step down following worsening earnings performance at Japan’s third-largest automaker and the collapse of merger talks with Honda.

It was not clear whether Espinosa’s appointment would put those talks back on the table or open up the possibility of investment from another partner.

Espinosa had been named by sources and Japanese media reports as one of Uchida’s potential successors which also included Chief Financial Officer Jeremie Papin and Chief Performance Officer Guillaume Cartier.

Espinosa, who joined the company in 2003, has spent much of his career in Mexico. His experience includes positions in Southeast Asia and Europe. Espinosa has overseen product planning and development initiatives and managed the automaker’s global product strategy and portfolio.

He has been in his current role since April 2024, a job he took up as part of a shake-up aimed at accelerating the automaker’s pivot to electric vehicles.

Reuters