Nissan not keen to fill COO chair after Ashwani Gupta's departure

Nissan Motor Co has announced that the chief operating officer position left open after Ashwani Gupta's departure will not be filled under a new management structure. The Japanese automaker said on Wednesday that the responsibilities previously carried out by the operations chief will be taken over by other executives.

Gupta announced his resignation on June 16. He was part of an executive troika announced in October 2019, as the company struggled to regain its footing following the arrest of former chief Carlos Ghosn.

According to the company's official statement Gupta had "elected to leave the company to pursue other opportunities effective June 27", without detailing the reasons for his departure. His last day at Nissan was Tuesday.


Hideyuki Sakamoto, executive vice president in charge of manufacturing and supply chain management, will be responsible for purchasing. Chief Financial Officer Stephen Ma will take over operations performance duties.

"In response to the constantly evolving market conditions, we will introduce a flatter and agile leadership structure, which will further empower regional and functional leadership," Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement.

Japan's No.3 automaker is investigating accusations that Uchida carried out surveillance of Gupta, Reuters has reported.

Nissan is in the midst of finalising the terms of a sweeping reset of its decades-old alliance with Renault SA.

Gupta had clashed with Uchida over Uchida's desire to close the negotiations with Renault quickly, with Gupta urging more caution over terms of the deal, people with knowledge of the talks have told Reuters.

(Inputs from Reuters)