Ivan Espinosa is Nissan’s new President and CEO

In what could be the saving grace for its merger with Honda, the Nissan Motor Corporation has announced big changes in its senior management, starting with the appointment of its CEO.

Effective April 1, Ivan Espinosa will be the Japanese automaker’s top leader, succeeding Makoto Uchida who will be stepping down from his role.

Espinosa is currently Nissan’s chief planning officer. Once he takes office, he will be the company’s fourth CEO in eight years, and will also be taking the role as the company’s representative executive officer and president.

He has been working with Nissan for over two decades, starting in 2003 with a role as a product planning specialist for Nissan Mexico.

This development comes less than a month after a merger deal between Nissan and fellow Japanese automaker Honda fell through. If finalized, the merger would have formed the world’s third largest automotive company.

It would be remembered that Nissan recently went into financial trouble with declining sales globally especially with the rise in competitiveness from rival Chinese automakers. Among its moves was reducing production capacity in major production hubs such as Thailand and the United States.

_{Photo by Sam Surla}