Ghosn crisis ‘in no way’ pushing us to end partnership with Renault—Nissan
Following mixed international reactions trailing the no-hold-barred revelations at a recent world press briefing by the fugitive former boss of Nissan Renault auto group, Mr Carlos Ghosn, Renault, the Japanese auto giant insisted Tuesday that Nissan is “in no way” planning to end its partnership with it.
A leaked report had suggested a divorce was possible in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal, the Britain’s Financial Times, citing “several people with knowledge of the matter”, averred that senior executives at the scandal-hit firm were speeding up work on secret plans for a potential parting of ways with France’s Renault.
Already, Nissan had in a terse statement clearly denied the claims, saying “Nissan is in no way considering dissolving the alliance.”
Ghosn had last week in a world briefing held at Beirut in Lebanon given documentary evidence chief of his activities while as the group’s chief executive, saying his escape from Japan which he had lived for 17 years was not to escape justice, but get justice.
Ghosn, who last month jumped bail in Japan and fled to Lebanon, claims the charges against him were cooked up by disgruntled Nissan executives hoping to block his plans to more closely integrate the automaker with Renault.
Continuing, the Nissan statement claimed that “The alliance is the source of Nissan’s competitiveness,” adding that it will look to continue delivering “win-win results for all member companies”.
Analysts say the partnership, which also includes Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors, has been troubled since the shock arrest of its former chief Ghosn on charges of financial misconduct.
Though fugitive Ghosn argued that the alliance was now on the rocks and directionless, the new chief executive, Jean-Dominique Senard, had earlier hit back at the reports of a planned split, telling Belgian daily L’Echo the claims had “no connection to the current situation of the alliance”.
“The Renault-Nissan alliance is not dead! Soon we will show you why,” he said in an interview published Tuesday.
“I ask myself, where does this sort of information come from? I am not sure it comes from a place of goodwill.”
Also in Paris, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire dismissed the report as “malicious information” in an interview on the French TV station CNEWS.
Rather, he averred that it aimed to “destabilise the group, cause trouble at a moment when, on the contrary, we are in the process of rehabilitating the alliance between Renault and Nissan, which had indeed gone through a rough patch”.
Global auto analysts still hold the view that the 20-year partnership between Nissan and Renault, whose alliance is based on cross-shareholdings without a joint structure, has been badly shaken by the Ghosn scandal.
