The Scoop: Nissan’s hasty, surprise CEO announcement

Nissan Motor is undergoing a major leadership transition as it struggles with declining sales, a failed merger attempt and looming U.S. tariff threats.

The automaker announced that Makoto Uchida, CEO since 2019, will step down on April 1, with longtime Nissan executive Ivan Espinosa set to take over. Espinosa will be the company’s fourth CEO in eight years.

This change comes as the company is in the middle of a restructuring effort, which includes cutting global production and layoffs.

“Given the industrywide challenges and Nissan’s performance, we believe it is necessary and appropriate to change the top management team,” said Board Chair Yasushi Kimura.

Uchida, who had overseen Nissan’s post-pandemic recovery, struggled to maintain momentum as the company lagged in EV adoption, particularly in China, where sales dropped over 9% in the last nine months.

“The announcement last month that the merger talks had failed was made on the same day that Nissan reported declining sales and a nearly 90 percent plunge in operating profit, to $435 million, for the nine months ending in December,” per the New York Times.

Why it matters: Espinosa’s appointment has left investors with key questions, especially around Nissan’s strategy to compete in the shifting EV market and manage global trade risks.

It also likely caught the communications team off guard.

In what the New York Times called a “hastily arranged news conference,” Espinosa didn’t offer much in terms of plans to turn the company around, instead saying multiple times that he had “just been informed of the board’s decision.”

Kimura didn’t offer any clarification on why the change is happening just now. Instead, he simply highlighted Espinosa’s more than two-decade history with the company. He started as a product specialist in Mexico in 2003 before moving on to leadership roles in Thailand and Japan, CNBC reported.

“Nissan is in the midst of a transformation, and we believe (Espinosa) is the right person to lead the company in these times,” Kimura said.

While Nissan’s stock has fluctuated over the past 24 hours, it’s slightly down as of Wednesday morning.

At the news conference, Espinosa stated, “Nissan has so much more potential than what we are seeing today.”

Given the seemingly impromptu leadership change, it’s unclear how much the communications team knew about this move or when it was happening. In the coming days, it’ll be important for the comes to work closely with Espinosa to develop a comms strategy and really, to get to know him – his personality, his voice and his goals.

Communication is never more important than a time of transition so it’ll be important for the team to act quickly to reassure investors and customers alike.

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Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.