Ghosn Promises to Make Nissan-Renault Alliance 'Irreversible'

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Carlos Ghosn is pledging to solidify the alliance between Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi Motors after agreeing to stay on as the French automaker’s chairman and CEO for the next four years. He also announced the companies will take the next few weeks to develop a plan to “make the alliance irreversible.”

While we’d love to hear about an automotive blood pact or — better still — a strategy to clone Ghosn for the next hundred years, the final plan will probably be a little more mundane. But, according to the chairman’s Friday announcement, it will not include a merger — at least not until the French government gets out of the way.

“For the moment, I don’t see how the Japanese side is going to accept further steps with the French state as a major shareholder,” he told analysts at Renault headquarters, near Paris. Ghosn says any changes in the financial structure of the alliance would have to be approved by both the French and Japanese governments first. It’s something he has said in the past and will likely reiterate in the future.

Ghosn remains chairman at all three companies. Despite abandoning his role as Nissan’s chief executive last year, he has persisted as CEO of Renault since 2005. He is frequently hailed as Nissan’s savior, bringing it back from the edge of failure nearly two decades ago, and working to form the three-way alliance while embarking on an aggressive global expansion plan.

France, which owns a 15 percent stake in the company, recently sold off 4.73 percent of its previous holdings. President Emmanuel Macron agreed to divest in the automotive sector if he won the election. However, he and Ghosn have something of a rocky history with each other. Macron has been critical of the alliance chairman’s “high level of compensation,” while Ghosn has been extremely negative over the government’s investment in Renault. Macron helped build up the larger governmental holding of the company in 2015 during his tenure as France’s economy minister.

However, things appear to be working out so far. Carlos agreed to cut his salary by about 30 percent and the government let go of some of its shares.

“We want to build new era of relations between Renault and the state,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on television earlier this week.

What that would entail is unknown, but it may indicate France is preparing to loosen its grip on the company. That could make a full merger of Renault and Nissan “a very real possibility,” Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst told Bloomberg. Officially, though, France has publicly stated it currently has no plans to sell any more Renault shares.

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • DangerDave77 DangerDave77 on Feb 16, 2018

    It’s irreversible. Like my raincoat!

  • Sgeffe Sgeffe on Feb 18, 2018

    What happened with the last Alliance?! ;-) 2nd time in two weeks I can use this line, but I hate to see the results of this Encore! (Talk about a Rogue endeavor! A failure of Titanic proportions??!!)

  • SCE to AUX I am generally anti-union.To win over the workers, the UAW has to convince them that:[list][*]The court of public opinion (internet, social media, local/national news) is insufficient to air their gripes (it's not).[/*][*]The Company is in sustained violation of established workplace regulations for comfort, safety, and well-being (unlikely).[/*][*]Paying union dues is worth the artificial bump in pay and benefits (it's not).[/*][*]The UAW can actually protect their jobs (they can't).[/*][*]Adding labor contention via unionization is worth the risk of the company relocating the plant to a more friendly location (it's not).[/*][*]Strike pay over the holidays is great compensation for all the free time you get (it's not).[/*][*]The UAW leadership won't put themselves first (they will).[/*][/list]
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  • ToolGuy The Supercharger in the last picture: Is it 2B, or not 2B?
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