The First Day at Work for Nissan's New CEO Looks Daunting—Here's His Plan

Nissan has a new CEO. Today is Ivan Espinosa’s first day in the top job and he is acutely aware of the challenges ahead of him. Espinosa, a Nissan veteran whose most recent job was global chief planning officer, takes over from Makota Uchida who announced his pending resignation in March after talks to merge with Honda fell apart. In the wake of the vacancy, various names were floated as likely successors. Espinosa’s name was not one of them.

He was as surprised as the rest of the industry when he got the tap. At 46, the native of Mexico City thought he might be in line for consideration next time around, at the earliest, he tells MotorTrend.

But of one thing he was certain: Nissan is not dead yet and Espinosa was getting tired of reading all the negative coverage, including dramatic accounts of the automaker’s imminent demise in the wake of poor earnings and failed merger talks. It prompted an event where media were invited to Yokohama, Japan, to show what Nissan is capable of and what is in the works.

The beauty of Espinosa in the top spot is he is not an outsider being brought in to fix things, says Ponz Pandikuthira, chief planning officer for Nissan in the Americas. Espinosa is a mechanical engineer who has been with Nissan since 2003 in a variety of strategy and planning jobs. He has seen Nissan at its best, when it was successful, profitable, and a tech leader. Before it lost its way. Espinosa wants to get the company back on course and is prepared to make the necessary fundamental changes, Pandikuthira says.

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New Products Coming

There are new vehicles in the pipeline, new technologies, new strategies, and a new focus on cost reduction.

Nissan is reducing the time it takes to develop new vehicles, from 55 months to 37 months for an all-new model, and 30 months for subsequent models on the same platform.

It is also bringing long-overdue hybrids to North America, including plug-in hybrids, starting with the Nissan Rogue. Executives are quick to acknowledge the focus on pure EVs for the region and eschewing hybrids made sense during the pandemic when vehicle prices were high, but it proved to be a miscalculation that has come back to bite them. Nissan’s e-Power hybrid setup, where the internal combustion engine acts as a generator, will make its U.S. debut in the fourth-generation Rogue in 2027. Before that, the Rogue will get the plug-in hybrid system from Alliance partner Mitsubishi and other vehicles could adopt that system in the future.

More clarity on emissions compliance regulations in the U.S. will help determine the best powertrain for each model going forward. Nissan knows it can’t have big vehicles with V-8 engines and buy credits for compliance, especially as there are increasingly fewer greenhouse gas credits for sale. The automaker needs self-reliance with a balanced portfolio. The company will only keep investing in internal combustion engines that contribute to electrification as part of a hybrid system.

Electric vehicles are still a priority and we will see the all-new 2026 Nissan Leaf in June (in blue, above). The third-generation Leaf is being reinvented from a frumpy hatchback to a sleek crossover. The Leaf was a pioneer in the EV space when it debuted back in 2010, but has been all but left behind as the rest of the industry caught up and surpassed Nissan with EVs of their own.

Sports cars will remain part of the lineup. Names like Z and GT-R are not going away.

Future vehicles fall under three categories: key brand-oriented, globally recognized signature nameplates like Patrol, mainstream core regional vehicles like Pathfinder in the U.S. or Micra in Europe, and niche models like the Z. There will be more regional control, and a greater emphasis on and investment in the U.S., whose engineering and design operations have been alternately sidelined and brought back to the table by Nissan's Japanese headquarters over the years. Other Japanese automakers' U.S. businesses—see: Honda and Toyota—have enjoyed more consistent autonomy.

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Different Strokes for Different Regions

The U.S. isn't the only reason behind the renewed regional focus; sales have fallen off in China. Nissan is taking a new approach to China, developing eight new electric models in China for that market by the end of 2026 and hedging the risk with plans to export them to other countries, where applicable. The new models start with the N7 electric sedan that will be shown this month at the Shanghai auto show.

Mexico is also a key market with its production hub and almost 20 percent market share. Europe will concentrate on EVs, with the Micra, Leaf, Juke, and the Qashqai (above, in red) with the new e-Power hybrid system.

Japan is where Nissan will showcase its technology with the debut of the new Leaf, a new large minivan, the next generation of e-Power, new Kei cars, a test fleet of autonomous robotaxis, and enhanced software. CCS2 Evo, the next generation of Nissan’s connected car platform, will debut on an undefined vehicle in 2026, with virtual reality navigation and AI for advanced driver assistance systems. Nissan is also working on solid-state batteries and claims it will be a leader with its targeted energy density, quick charge capability, and chemistry. It will be tested in vehicles in 2026 with plans to have it on the market in 2028 or early 2029. In the U.S., look for it in the Infiniti QX60 in 2029 and eventually make its way into refreshes of the Infiniti QX80 and Nissan Armada.

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Infiniti Not Going Away

The new CEO sees potential in a revived Infiniti and has no plans to drop the luxury brand, which is why it invested in a new QX80 flagship, the new Infiniti QX65, and an electric crossover to be built in Canton, Mississippi in 2027. Infiniti can share platforms and powertrains with Nissan models, but the luxury vehicles cannot be warmed-over Nissans in terms of design and the retail customer experience, Espinosa says.

Espinosa also knows he needs to address cost. He will oversee a pruned workforce, on the management side as well as production. He will work to reduce fixed costs and concentrate on generating revenue. He insists Nissan does not have a cash problem, with more than 1 trillion yen ($6.7 billion) in cash, but it does need to work on free cash flow generation. In other words, it needs to be making more than it is spending. It does not have the scale it once had, which enables greater savings. Nissan has gone from being a 5.8-million-unit company in 2018 to 3.5 million units a year.

Under Espinosa, Nissan will continue to foster partnerships. That includes Alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi, as well as Honda with whom Nissan has ongoing projects. There are no taboos, Espinosa says. Nissan is open to talking to any company that can add value and support the company’s vision. But he stresses Nissan is ready to find a path with or without partners.

Espinosa says he is proud of the cars Nissan has to offer and is eager to take the company forward. The heart of Nissan is still beating, Espinosa says. It is a great moment to charge ahead with a new team and clear strategy to turn things around and keep the momentum going.