Nissan finalises takeover

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn has officially been appointed chairman of Mitsubishi, and has outlined plans to reap combined savings of NZ$658 million over the next fiscal year. The savings will come from joint manufacturing, product sharing, combined purchasing and other combined operations that will spread costs over a higher volume of vehicles. The news comes after Nissan finalised its NZ$3.19 billion purchase of a 34 per cent controlling stake in Mitsubishi. At a press conference announcing the purchase, Ghosn said: “Today, our global alliance has reached an inflection point. With Mitsubishi, the alliance will have a scale advantage over most carmakers and a handicap to none.” Ghosn said he asked current Mitsubishi chairman and president Osamu Masuko to stay on as president of the company. Ghosn has appointed Nissan vice chairman and chief competition officer Hiroto Saikawa as his co-chief executive at Nissan. He said of the decision that “there will be no loss or dispersion of attention on Nissan.” “You want a decision from a CEO, here he is. We want to move fast, decisively… There is no difference between what I think and what he thinks.” Ghosn has appointed a further three Nissan executives to the Mitsubishi board, which has been downsized to 11 members. The board changes will need to be approved by Mitsubishi stakeholders in December. Masuko said at the press conference: “We are a full member of the Renault-Nissan alliance from today. We look forward to learning a lot of things from Nissan. We intend to accelerate our progress and come as close as possible to where Nissan is today. “The investment by Nissan Motor will certainly contribute significantly to our company’s sustainable growth.” He added that the savings would start almost immediately, with NZ$335 million in annual synergies kicking in from the 2017 fiscal year. For Nissan, Ghosn said the company will generate NZ$322 million in the next fiscal year, then $806 million in the following fiscal year and beyond.