Various Renault-Nissan joint business functions are being unravelled now that former alliance chairman Carlos Ghosn is no longer in the position to press ahead with the integration of the two automakers, the Financial Times reported.
Joint business areas such as light commercial vehicles, sales and marketing, and communications are dismissing staff, according to FT sources.
Ghosn’s “CEO Office,” which was responsible for the day-to-day running of alliance functions, is being disbanded, the paper said on Wednesday. The office is led by Renault veteran Arnaud Deboeuf, according to the alliance’s web site.
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Before his arrest in Japan in November on charges for suspected financial misconduct, Ghosn had pledged to “make the alliance irreversible.”
In March 2018 Ghosn named team leaders for converged functions in purchasing, engineering and manufacturing, and new cross-company teams to coordinate, quality, after sales and business development in an effort to find annual synergies of 10 billion euros by the end of 2022.
Renault and Nissan created a light commercial vehicle business unit reporting to Ghosn in 2017 to benefit from Renault’s van expertise and Nissan’s truck know-how in key markets.
Since Ghosn’s downfall there is an increasingly strained relationship between Renault and Nissan management teams, the Financial Times said. Some alliance functions are set to close while others are simply ignored, the paper said.
Ghosn’s arrest has shaken the two-decades-old alliance to its foundations. Nissan, which is 43 per cent owned by Renault, pushing for more influence within the partnership.
More tensions erupted when Renault and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles held talks on a merger without involving Nissan. Representatives of Nissan on Renault’s board abstained in a vote on the Renault-FCA deal earlier this month, contributing to the collapse of negotiations.
