Nissan Names New Leadership Team

Nissan Motor Co.’s board has chosen Makoto Uchida, a senior vice president and former head of the company’s China operations, to take over as CEO.

He succeeds Hiroto Saikawa, who quit on Sept. 16 after accepting blame for Nissan’s slumping performance. Saikawa also became entangled in financial irregularities revealed by investigations into alleged wrongdoing by former Chairman Carlos Ghosn.

Makoto Uchida.  Source: Nissan

Uchida joined Nissan in 2003. The 53-year-old has served as president of Dongfeng Motor Co. Ltd., Nissan’s joint venture in China, for the past two years.

Nissan’s board also selected Ashwani Gupta to become chief operating officer. Gupta, 49, has been serving as COO at Nissan affiliate Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and has past executive experience at Honda, Renault and the Renault-Nissan alliance.

Jun Seki, 58, past head of Nissan’s ventures in China who has been leading Nissan’s restructuring efforts in recent months, will become vice-COO.

All three men had been considered contenders to replace Saikawa. The CEO position until now had been filled on an interim basis by Yasuhiro Yamauchi, the company’s COO. Nissan did not indicate Yamauchi’s future role.