Saikawa insists he would have been completely joyful to have Ghosn, now 68, proceed on the helm of the Renault-Nissan alliance, had it not been for what Saikawa referred to as overwhelming proof of misconduct.
Ghosn’s demise was a “big tragedy for everybody,” Saikawa mentioned.
“We spent 20 years creating a good thing through recovery and evolution,” Saikawa mentioned of Ghosn’s rescue of Nissan from close to chapter in 1999 and his eventual creation of a three-way Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi partnership that turned the world’s largest auto group in 2017.
“But because of his wrongdoing, it was partly destroyed,” Saikawa mentioned.
In an interview with Automotive News, Saikawa mentioned there was no alternative however to take away Ghosn when the misdeeds got here to gentle.
Saikawa dismissed discuss that Ghosn was focused by a Japanese coup bent on blocking additional integration of Nissan and Renault.
“From the perspective of many in Japan, I was a hero,” he mentioned. “I saved Nissan from being merged with Renault. But I wanted him to stay, if it hadn’t been for the misconduct.”
Prosecutors accused Ghosn and American director Greg Kelly of hiding some $80.5 million in postponed Ghosn compensation from 2010 to 2018. Both males, arrested the identical day in Japan, deny wrongdoing. Ghosn faces two further indictments for breach of belief for allegedly diverting firm cash for his private profit. He denies these fees as properly.
At the time, Saikawa mentioned he envisioned a manner ahead for Renault and Nissan that might have created a everlasting partnership with out resorting to a full merger or holding firm. Ghosn was the one particular person to dealer such a deal, as a result of he would not power a merger, Saikawa mentioned.
Today, Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi are lastly again within the black after years of losses. But ties between the businesses, almost damaged after the Ghosn scandal, stay strained. The companions have divided the world into spheres of affect and been largely quiet on joint initiatives.
Saikawa praised Nissan for lastly returning to a development path.
“I don’t know if they have fully recovered from all the days and energy lost from that tragedy,” he mentioned. “But in performance, they have recovered to making profit. So they are at the next step.”
Saikawa was a loyal lieutenant for a lot of Ghosn’s 19-year tenure, and served as co-CEO with Ghosn over the course of a one-year transition earlier than turning into solo CEO in 2017.
He was pressured to resign in September 2019 after it emerged he had improperly benefited from a stock-linked government incentive program. Saikawa left the automaker in 2020.
Source: www.autonews.com