The Nissan-Renault Alliance is sinking deeper into disarray without Ghosn

TOKYO – The alliance between Nissan Motor and Renault, once asked as a rarely successful international business bond, has continued in confusion since Carlos Ghosn was arrested nearly two months ago.

The Japanese and French car manufacturers have undertaken many joint activities, including new construction and parts and materials procurement. But now the bill is too dependent on Ghosn who absolutely leads the reason.

Hiroto Saikawa, Nissan's President and CEO, has often lived in his 21[ads1]st-floor office at the company's headquarters in Yokohama until late at night since Ghos's arrest, Saikawa was informed of Ghosn's alleged financial default just one month before the arrest. While the arrest sent shock waves all over the world, Saikawa was also taken off guard.

Saikawa climbed to the top at Nissan by performing tasks that were eventually assigned to him by Ghosn. Now, without telling him what to do, he'll still find out where to go.

The origin of the absolute leader traces back 20 years.

In 1999, Renault leader Louis Schweitzer told Ghosn just before he made a bond agreement to bail Nissan that he would not sign the deal if the Brazilian birth director refused to go to Japan. Ghosn had made his name a cost saving.

DaimlerChrysler also came out in support of Nissan, with the opportunity to acquire a majority stake. Renault was apparently desperate, as Schweitzer had promised da-Nissan President Yoshikazu Hanawa that the French machine would hold its stake down to 36.8%. Nissan was able to maintain his identity as a Japanese producer through his relationship with Renault, he told Hanawa.

The fate of Nissan-Renault then rested in the hands of a man instead of the work of tied up capital.

In 2002, the French company increased its stake in Nissan to 44.4%. This was lowered to 43.4% in 2010, while the Japanese company took 15% interest in Renault.

Hanawa asked Ghosn to come to Japan "not as a Renault man but as a Nissan man." Ghosn joined Renault and came to Nissan. After discussions with many employees, he prepared Nissan Revival Plan and emphasized that solutions to the company's woes could be found on the factory floor. The plan made it possible for Nissan to create a sharp decline.

Ghosn took co-position as CEO of Renault in 2005. With the withdrawal of Hanawa and other Nissan leaders, including co-chairman Itaru Koeda, from the foreplay, Ghosn's hand was strengthened.

In July 2006, Ghosn announced the launch of bond negotiations between the Nissan-Renault Alliance and US automaker General Motors. Asked by a reporter if he wanted to create the world's largest automaker and become his CEO, Ghosn refused that the decision to start the talks was his alone. But Nissan's rulers gave him authority.

While the negotiations fell apart, Nissan and Renault integrated production, procurement and certain other operations in 2014. In 2016, the Mitsubishi Motors alliance set an eye on becoming the world's largest car group with annual sales of 10 million cars.

With Ghosn, who had the final statement on the Tripartite Alliance's decisions, the project managers were reported to report progress to him.

Ghosn has obviously changed since 2010, after the global financial crisis triggered by Lehman Brothers collapse, said many leading Nissan leaders.

Under his leadership, Nissan solved the world's first all-electric car for the mass market Leaf in 2010. However, combined sales of Nissan and Renault accounted for only 70,000 units three years after Leaf's debut, despite the Alliance's goal of raising them to 1, 5 million units in six years.

Ghosn put the right hand Toshiyuki Shiga, then top operating manager, responsible for increasing the sales of the magazine. But in November 2013, seven months after the deal, Ghosn Shiga relieved the COO post.

Nissan then revised its earnings projections down for a second in subsequent years, partly on failed business strategies in the North American market. Ghosn set aside his one-time "engagement management" and replaced veteran Japanese leaders alot.

Nissan shifted its leadership priority from reconstruction to growth by early 2010. In line with this, Nissan-Renault Alliance acquired AvtoVAZ, the largest automaker in Russia, at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Contextual conversations with Ford Motor in the USA also started on fuel cell cars.

But when Ghosn emptied the nearby help, the operation suffered. With pressure to get results to grow, he replaced one top manager for another and tightened his grip.

Ghosn has built the Nissan-Renault alliance into a machine that can't work without him. The logical end point would be the "management integration of Nissan and Renault," a manager of the Japanese automaker said.

Ghosn allegedly formed a "private team" of major US bankers and others to exhibit an integration scenario. At a Nissan board meeting in September last year, he simply said he would like to promote the alliance.

But an American Japanese leader feared that Ghosn would advance his management integration plan at his next visit to Japan, and warned that Nissan would be absorbed by Renault unless it took countermeasures.

Suspicions grew stronger spring Ghosn has design on Nissan. A top secret team set up by Nissan, began working to surround him in collaboration with the Special Investigation Group of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office. On November 19, the accused Ghosn arrested on arrival at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

Having been on Ghosn for so long, Nissan has seen its leadership distorted in ways that are not easy to correct.

With a car that uses around 30,000 parts, a car manufacturer plans and develops a model with an eye on five years down the road. Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi have a total of nearly 100 models. While a large number of projects are always underway, Ghosn's iron fist rule made it possible to balance the demands of the three partners and make the best choices for the alliance as a whole.

Crack has appeared in Nissan's top rank. Chief Performance Officer Jose Munoz has resigned, and Arun Bajaj, senior vice president responsible for global human resources, has taken leave.

As the Ghosn case involves such complications as Japanese and English-language documents, as well as cross-border transactions, more than half a year before the first trial can be needed, says Motonari Otsuru, head of Ghosn's Japan-based legal team.

During a court hearing on January 8, the former Nissan chief expressed his willingness to continue fighting in court. Ghosn said he was looking forward to "starting the process of defending myself" and declaring himself "innocent of the charges against me," according to the text of his statement.

If Ghosn is released on bail, he can start a counter attack on Nissan's leadership.

Neither Nissan nor Renault seem to have anyone able to put the alliance back on track.

The Japanese vending machine would hold top-level talks with Daimler at the end of November to discuss plans for a Mexican-led valve factory that has suffered from falling demand for large US cars and uncertainty about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Months after Ghosn's arrest, the companies have not yet resettled.

Nissan board members decided on a 10th board meeting to extend the scope of decisions requiring approval. The company has already established a committee of largely outsiders to overhaul the decision-making process in agreements and compensation to prevent the upbringing of another charismatic leader with great influence like Ghosn.

The 20-year-old alliance will set collapse if it cannot find a way out of its difficulties.