Nissan Defectors Mount as Palmer Jumps to Aston Martin

By Ma Jie, Yuki Hagiwara and Craig Trudell

Nissan Motor Co. (7201)’s loss of its second executive since July is fueling concern that the pool of talent surrounding Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn is drying up.
Yesterday’s disclosure that Chief Planning Officer Andy Palmer will quit to lead Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. came almost eight weeks after the president of Nissan’s premium Infiniti brand jumped to Cadillac. Ghosn, who’s also CEO at Renault SA (RNO), lost his chief operating officer at the French carmaker in 2013 and his communications head earlier this year.
The defections add to the challenges facing Ghosn, 60, a man so lauded for saving Nissan from near bankruptcy in 1999 that he drew offers to
run larger automakers and starred in a comic book. Today, Japan’s second-largest automaker is lagging behind key financial targets and the Leaf electric vehicle he’s championed since 2009 is contending with Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)’s popular Model S.
“A number of very capable guys are leaving Nissan,” said Koji Endo, a Tokyo-based auto analyst at Advanced Research Japan. “The situation doesn’t really seem to be encouraging.”
Nissan said the departures reflect the normal dynamics of a competitive market.
“In this industry, there’s a lot of movement and will always be a lot of movement,” said Jeff Kuhlman, who prior to becoming head spokesman at Nissan worked for Volkswagen AG’s Audi and General Motors Co. (GM) “Nissan has been successful in attracting talent,” such as Gaby-Luise Wuest, who was hired in July from Bayerische Motoren Werke AG to be vice president for global operations at Infiniti.

Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Andy Palmer, who joined Nissan 23 years ago, will become CEO of Gaydon, England-based... Read More

Improving Performance

Nissan’s shares climbed 0.7 percent to 1,013 yen at the close in Tokyo trading. The stock has gained 15 percent this year, outperforming Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) and Honda Motor Co. (7267), on signs that profitability is improving in the company’s U.S. and Chinese operations.
Palmer, who joined Nissan 23 years ago, will become CEO of Gaydon, England-based Aston Martin -- the century-old maker of luxury sports cars featured in James Bond movies -- after a transition period. In making the move, the 51-year-old British national will be going to a company that sold 4,200 vehicles last year from one that delivered more than 5 million. Palmer’s job at Nissan will be filled by Philippe Klein, an executive vice president at Renault, starting Sept. 15.

Ghosn Lieutenant

After joining Nissan’s European technical center in 1991, Palmer moved to the light-commercial vehicle business before taking on broader duties including project management, marketing and emerging markets. In a management overhaul in November, he was promoted to chief planning officer -- one among a handful of executives reporting directly to Ghosn.

Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

The defections add to the challenges facing Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer... Read More

After the changes, Palmer said one of his biggest focuses would be to rein in marketing costs in the U.S. as profits were falling short of the company’s projections. This year, Nissan’s incentives rose 0.6 percent to $2,570 a vehicle, while the industry rose an average 5.5 percent, according to market researcher Autodata.
“There’s a core management team at Nissan and Andy Palmer was a very crucial part of it,” said Ashvin Chotai, managing director of researcher Intelligence Automotive Asia. “He had a lot of responsibilities and a lot of functions under his umbrella. To lose somebody like him is a big blow to Nissan.”
Palmer’s replacement will face the challenge of helping Ghosn lift Nissan’s operating-profit margin to 8 percent of sales and increase global market share likewise to 8 percent by March 2017. Nissan also targets its Infiniti unit to capture 10 percent of the world’s premium-car market by the end of the decade.

Infiniti Change

Yokohama-based Nissan’s market share stood at 6.2 percent as of the end of March, and the operating margin was 5.3 percent. Infiniti’s sales last year were about a tenth of BMW’s.
The departure came as Nissan was seeking to fill the void created when Infiniti chief Johan de Nysschen, who reported to Palmer, left for GM’s Cadillac brand. Palmer then took on an interim caretaker role for Infiniti, a responsibility that will be handed off to Jose Munoz, Nissan’s executive vice president in charge of North America.
Simon Sproule, Ghosn’s communications chief, went to take on the same role at Tesla earlier this year, and Carlos Tavares, Ghosn’s right-hand man at Renault, quit in August 2013 to become CEO of Paris-based rival PSA Peugeot Citroen.