Investors Aren’t Happy With Nissan’s New CEO

All isn’t well with Nissan, despite bringing in new CEO Ivan Espinosa, as investors made their frustrations known recently. It seems confidence in what Espinosa has done thus far isn’t as high as some might have hoped.

Lexus reportedly will base its new coupes on the next-gen Supra.

That’s hardly surprising considering the position Nissan is in financially. At Espinosa’s first general shareholders’ meeting since he took up the helm, he was subjected to quite the grilling. Surprisingly, it’s reported mostly smaller investors demanded answers and action from the CEO, making it clear they expect results, not platitudes, reports Automotive News.

Considering Nissan shares have plummeted around 36 percent over the last year, plus dividend payments have been suspended by the automaker, one can hardly blame them for the outrage.

It’s no secret Nissan is in serious financial trouble after years of dysfunction. While everyone seems to have their hobby topics about what’s wrong with the company, in all honesty one thing that’s remained constant has been poor leadership decisions followed by plenty of excuses.

For his part, Espinosa is already shuffling the deck, with a plan to reduce Nissan’s workforce by 20,000 positions, plus close seven factories in a move to reduce costs by $3.64 billion by March 2028.

But investors wanted to know why Espinosa hasn’t made changes at the executive level. They focused on demands for a reworking of leadership inside Nissan, clearly blaming them for much of the company’s dysfunction.

Also discussed was how Nissan will handle marketing and product strategies in Japan and the US, its two most important markets. The automaker’s image has suffered significantly in both and investors want to see a turnaround.

One positive thing came out of the shareholders’ meeting: both members of Renault on Nissan’s board were replaced, eliminating the other automaker’s direct influence on the Japanese company. For a long time, that’s been used as an excuse for the dysfunction.

It’s obvious investors will be watching closely for how things change or don’t as Espinosa sits in the hot seat.

Image via Nissan