Nissan’s Ghosn to Give Up Post As Chief of American Operations

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Mar. 16–TOKYO — Nissan Motor Co. said Friday that President and Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn will give up his post as chief overseeing operations in the Americas to focus more on the automaker’s overall management.

In a management reshuffle to take effect on April 1, Ghosn will be replaced by Hiroto Saikawa, executive vice president in charge of the European market.

The announcement came as Nissan faces falling sales in the United States and Japan, two key markets for the automaker. Nissan is expected to post a fall in group net profit in the current business year to the end of this month for the first time since Ghosn took the helm of the Japanese automaker in 2000, due largely to sluggish sales in these two markets.

Nissan has apparently decided that it is difficult for Ghosn to concentrate on operations in the Americas while also serving as president and CEO of Renault S.A. of France, industry observers said.

Ghosn assumed the post of overseeing operations in the Americas in 2004 and became head of Renault in May 2005.

Nissan’s sales in the United States in the nine months from April to December 2006 fell 6.9 percent from the year before to 756,000 units.

Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga will relinquish his post of overseeing the general overseas market to focus on Nissan’s embattled domestic operations.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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