Nissan Motor’s Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta will depart the Japanese carmaker later this month to pursue other opportunities, according to the latest official statement. He was best known to have managed a recovery strategy aimed at streamlining the company’s operations. In conjunction with his departure on June 27, Nissan intends to reveal a new executive team, the statement added.
The automaker said last month that the former long-time boss of Renault SA would leave the board of directors on June 27 when his tenure expired, throwing doubt on his future as he had been considered a leading candidate to become the next CEO of Nissan.
Gupta joined the organization’s executive team in late 2019, as Japan’s No. 3 carmaker sought to resolve a period of unrest brought on by the arrest and dismissal of longtime leader Carlos Ghosn. Gupta’s allies pushed the board in 2020 to elevate him to the position of co-CEO in the hopes that he would accelerate Nissan’s turnaround and strengthen its partnership with Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, but the promotion never materialized.
Related: Nissan Will Struggle to Find Its Place- Ghosn
Nissan is currently working to finalize the terms of a sweeping reset of its decades-old alliance with French automaker Renault. According to Reuters, Gupta had clashed with Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida over Uchida’s desire to close the negotiations with Renault quickly, with Gupta urging more caution over the terms of the deal.
According to Nissan’s official statement, Gupta had taken key leadership positions and been a “driving force” in various alliance projects over several years resulting in many achievements. He joined Renault in India back in 2006 and later became vice president in charge of its global commercial vehicle business, a job he held until 2019 when he moved to junior alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors.
Source: Reuters
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