Nissan officially takes control of Mitsubishi

[Suarez™]

TOKYO -- Carlos Ghosn officially folded troubled Mitsubishi Motors into the Renault-Nissan alliance and appointed himself chairman, forecasting nearly half a billion dollars in savings as soon as next year as the group joins a small club of automakers operating at a massive scale.

Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi outlined plans to reap combined savings of 49 billion yen ($473.2 million) in the next fiscal year through joint manufacturing, product sharing, combined purchasing and other combined operations that spread costs over a higher volume of vehicles. The tie-up, finalized on Thursday when Nissan completed its 237 billion-yen ($2.29 billion) purchase of a controlling 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi, also unleashed a cascade of executive changes.

“Today, our global alliance has reached an inflection point,” Ghosn said. “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 Mitsubishi, even though Masuko will relinquish his title of chairman to Ghosn.

Because Ghosn will be wearing his third hat as chairman –- after identical roles at Renault and Nissan –- he also appointed Nissan Vice Chairman and Chief Competition Officer Hiroto Saikawa as his co-CEO at Nissan. Ghosn will continue to serve as CEO and chairman of both Renault and Nissan.

“There will be no loss or dispersion of attention on Nissan,” Ghosn said of the decision to appoint a co-CEO to cover the top spot. “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.”

As part of the tie-up, Ghosn appointed three other Nissan executives to a downsized 11-member Mitsubishi board. Nissan will also install its pillar executive Trevor Mann as Mitsubishi’s new chief operating officer. Mann will leave his post as chief performance officer at Nissan.

Filling Mann’s role as chief performance officer will be Jose Munoz, who currently serves as chairman of Nissan’s North American operations. Munoz will do double duty in both roles.

Also at Nissan, Alliance Executive Vice President of Purchasing Yasuhiro Yamauchi will take Saikawa’s position as chief competitive officer. Veronique Sariat-Depotte was promoted to take Yamauchi’s old role and will head the Renault-Nissan purchasing organization.