Ghosn still looking to hook up with North American partner
That Carlos Ghosn, he gets around. The CEO of two major automakers already, Renault and Nissan, is still interested in partnering with a third automaker, preferably one from North America. A potential deal to get up close and personal with General Motors fell through last year, but Ghosn insists about every two months or so that he's still open to the possibility of his expanding his alliance for an interested third party. But see, that's the thing, no one's interested (at least not Ford and Chrysler LLC). And since Ghosn realizes that a hostile takeover-type scenario doesn't breed good will between buddies, there he waits across the pond, leaning on his brand new Nissan GT-R trying to look all cool and attract the right mate. May we suggest a dash of Drakkar Noir, Carlos? Works every time.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd, photo by Mychele Daniau/AFP/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MacGuffin 11:04AM (10/23/2007)
Why would ANYONE want to hookup with this one-hit wonder?
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danms6 11:22AM (10/23/2007)
One hit wonder?
The man picked up Nissan when it was about $20 bil in debt and turned it into an amazingly profitable company in 5 years. The Japanese absolutely love him for the job he has done.
Keep trolling elsewhere.
Alex 11:25AM (10/23/2007)
my mom thinks he is cute... i bet she would want to hook-up with him.
John R 11:32AM (10/23/2007)
@ danms6
I second that. Nissan is a profitable company and they do make good enthuiasts oriented products. An Altima will eat an Aura's, Fusion's and (especially) a Sebring's lunch all day. And the G35/37/350Z is solid performer.
joe 11:42AM (10/23/2007)
As danms6 have already pointed out, you, sir, are an idiot.
Before joining Renault (and then being transferred to Nissan) he was a CEO at Michelin for almost two decades. He has a celebrity-like status in Japan. Kirk Kerkorian, a billionaire who used to own 10% of GM, actually worked to oust Wagoner and install Ghosn as the new GM CEO.
psarhjinian 1:20PM (10/23/2007)
I'd almost agree with the one-hit comment, if it were modified to read "one-trick". Ghosn's specialty is cost-cutting--he's actually been called Le Cost Cutter in his Renault tenure--and in that respect he has helped stop the bleeding at Nissan.
The problem is that, other than the Altima and G35, Nissan hasn't had a hit on it's hands. It's had a few pretty-goods (the 350Z and Murano) but nothing spectacular. It's also tanked mightily in quality on several models, and the models in question are those introduced after Ghosn came on. He's a supplier-squeezer and penny-pincher, which does great things for ROI, but not quality.
He's also got a German-Auto-Executive-sized ego, but so does everyone outside of the Asians and Ford, so that's really par for the course.
Don 2:01PM (10/26/2007)
Screw off, Ghosn! We don't need another crap foreign company bleeding our carmakers dry.
Friggin' one hit wonder.
James 11:19AM (10/23/2007)
One hit wonder? Not sure where that's coming from, but he turned Nissan around and their whole lineup is doing rather well now. Compare that to Detroit, where only GM is treading water, and Ford keeps sending the desirable cars to Europe. Don't even mention Chrysler... what a shame.
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Mr. Oak 11:36AM (10/23/2007)
You clearly have lost your mind. GM will be fine. Nissan has nothing to offer GM, and the French can keep Renault in Europe.
Which I suspect is why he wants to partner in NA. He wants to bring Renault back to NA.
James 12:00PM (10/23/2007)
hmm.. I believe some journalists had the same question as you, but for what it's worth, Ghosn denied that they wanted to bring Renault back to NA. I say bring them, wouldn't hurt to have more competition and choices, then the average American family wouldn't be driving a McCamry.
Yes, I believe GM will be fine, but that doesn't mean they're not hurting.
MacGuffin 12:01PM (10/23/2007)
One hit wonder? You bet.
Carlos Ghosn is a one-trick pony - a slash and burn cost-cutter who doesn't have the mindset to run a company once it's resurrected.
Just look at Nissan's most recent results: net profit for the fiscal first quarter declined 16 percent to 92.3 billion yen ($765 million).
Menice 11:32AM (10/23/2007)
damn it.. i still use Drakkar !
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Stéphane Dumas 11:35AM (10/23/2007)
There a French article posted last September about a suggestion of Paul Betts, editorialist for the Financial Times where he suggest then Renault should partner with Peugeot-Citroen instead http://www.trends.be/fr/economie/entreprises/12-1634-43710/et-pourquoi-pas-une-alliance-renault-peugeot--.html could a alliance with Peugeot-Citroen would have more sense?
And for Nissan, in their home market (Japan), things are not all that rosy from this French article http://www.challenges.fr/business/1192658400.CHAP1020902/nissan_voit_sestomper_la_magie_de_ghosn.html
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Blunckhouse 11:45AM (10/23/2007)
I liked him better when he was making the Mr. Bean videos.
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CoffeeJedi 4:50PM (10/23/2007)
Ghosn always looks like Rowan Atkinson, but man, that pic there is one of the best.
ebm14 8:06PM (10/23/2007)
I was just going to say that he looks like Rowan Atkinson myself. He also has his finger in his ear, gross.
zoldfulu 11:49AM (10/23/2007)
Well, the conglomerate seems to work well, but there are significant problems lurking in the deep. Renault seems to be plagued by quality problems for a long time, and appearently Nissan gets them with R. parts too(instead of the other way around). Although their market matches consideably (i.e. non premium, mass cars), it is distributed geographically. It all makes sense if you look at the map. Rennault gets EU&Western-Europe, South America, middle east, Nissan is strong in Asia, East of EU (Russia), and North America.
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akatsuki 12:25PM (10/23/2007)
I don't understand his huge desire to hook up with an America company. He would never get the economies of scale on platforms that he would want, there are too many sacred cows all over the place and it is not like they will let him axe people left and right.
Although with a crashing dollar, it probably makes sense to move production here and hedge against further drops.
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Corey W. 12:40PM (10/23/2007)
Why did the meetings with GM fall through last year? Maybe they should just try partnering on a project/application first, then go from there.
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SeattleJeremy 12:54PM (10/23/2007)
That's an awesome picture of him.
I don't care much about what he's trying to do, just stay away from GM, and I will be happy.
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