TOKYO — Hiroto Saikawa, former CEO of Nissan who presided over the arrest and ouster of his boss and mentor Carlos Ghosn — solely to be drummed out of the corporate himself — is again within the enterprise virtually 4 years after the scandal almost derailed the Renault-Nissan auto alliance.
After ending a two-year noncompete settlement, the 68-year-old trade veteran is in talks to seek the advice of on autonomous city mobility and is writing a e-book about his expertise.
The Nissan lifer shocked Japan by accusing Ghosn of rampant monetary misconduct at a information convention the evening of the chairman’s arrest. Now, Saikawa is weighing in on the carmaker’s fitful restoration from the following chaos and speaking about Ghosn’s legacy.
Saikawa insists he would have been completely pleased to have Ghosn, now 68, proceed on the helm of the Renault-Nissan alliance, had it not been for what Saikawa known as overwhelming proof of misconduct.
Ghosn’s demise was a “large tragedy for everyone,” Saikawa stated.
“We spent 20 years creating factor by way of restoration and evolution,” Saikawa stated 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 grew to become the world’s largest auto group in 2017.
“However due to his wrongdoing, it was partly destroyed,” Saikawa stated.
In an interview with Automotive Information, Saikawa stated there was no selection 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 angle of many in Japan, I used to be a hero,” he stated. “I saved Nissan from being merged with Renault. However I needed him to remain, 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. Each 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 expenses as effectively.
On the time, Saikawa stated he envisioned a approach ahead for Renault and Nissan that will have created a everlasting partnership with out resorting to a full merger or holding firm. Ghosn was the one individual to dealer such a deal, as a result of he would not power a merger, Saikawa stated.
Right now, Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi are lastly again within the black after years of losses. However 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 tasks.
Saikawa praised Nissan for lastly returning to a development path.
“I do not know if they’ve totally recovered from all the times and power misplaced from that tragedy,” he stated. “However in efficiency, they’ve recovered to creating revenue. So they’re on the subsequent 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 compelled 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.
Lately, Saikawa is concentrated once more on the mobility world.
His new ardour is slow-speed, autonomous mobility for congested cities, a discipline scorching for consulting in Japan. Saikawa stated he has been approached by a number of firms however declined to call them.
Saikawa believes dense city areas will evolve into geofenced zones the place private vehicles are banned. Individuals will as a substitute hop into leased or fleet-operated pod vehicles that drive themselves, provide privateness, run purely on electrical energy and are “gentle, comfortable and comfortable,” for higher pedestrian security.
“That is my dream,” he stated. “In autonomous driving, all people tries to make a automobile that strikes autonomously in congested areas however can nonetheless go 90 mph on a winding freeway.
“Do we actually want this? Why not separate the 2?”
Saikawa’s mobility views piggyback on his expertise with autonomous driving and electrification at Nissan, in addition to more moderen consulting jobs in synthetic intelligence. This 12 months, he participated in an info expertise venture in Vietnam.
Software program and infrastructure, not car {hardware}, Saikawa stated, would be the driving forces behind this new enterprise. “That is what I used to be satisfied of whereas I used to be at Nissan,” he stated.
On the evening of Ghosn’s arrest in November 2018, Saikawa lashed out at his alliance boss because the mastermind of long-running wrongdoing. In retirement, Saikawa sounds extra charitable.
Whereas he’s “satisfied” of Ghosn’s guilt, Saikawa needs folks to additionally bear in mind Ghosn’s different legacy — that he saved Nissan and constructed a global auto juggernaut.
“He was nonetheless the irreplaceable chief of the alliance, even when a bit distant from day-to-day operations,” Saikawa stated. “I respect what he did within the early days.”