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He is in turn presented as the great winner, the traitor or the slayer of Carlos Ghosn. Some French media go so far as to call him Brutus, such as the one who "killed the father", aka Julius Caesar. Hiroto Saikawa, managing director and acting president of Nissan, was for nearly twenty years the protégé of the deposed boss. Yet he was the one who, shortly after the spectacular arrest of Carlos Ghosn on the tarmac of Haneda Airport in Tokyo, had the hardest words. And also the one who proposed and obtained his unanimous dismissal at an extraordinary board of directors of Nissan.
A long dry body, short hair, the face barely shaded by thin rimless glbades. But who is this discreet lieutenant who was part of the close guard of Carlos Ghosn and suddenly appears in new strongman of Nissan under the spotlight? Would he have engineered a "conspiracy" against the all-powerful leader of the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance to better ensure the independence of the Japanese automaker vis-à-vis its French partner? Who stayed in the shadow of the charismatic cost killer of 64 years remains an enigma.
At Nissan since 1977
Hiroto Saikawa, 65, is presented by the Japanese press as intelligent, demanding, a loyal, results-oriented employee. He was knighted in April 2017 by Carlos Ghosn, who had entrusted him with the operational reins of the second Japanese automaker, after Toyota. Hiroto Saikawa is then made managing director, Carlos Ghosn keeping only the presidency of the board of directors. "There's a time when you have to pbad the baton to someone else, explained Franco-Libano-Brazilian. I have always said that I want a Japanese to succeed me, and I have been preparing Mr. Saikawa for years. " And to add: "I trust him completely. He thinks what I think. "
Just graduated from the prestigious University of Tokyo where he studied economics, Hiroto Saikawa entered Nissan in 1977. He devoted his career. But it was after the arrival of Carlos Ghosn in 1999, to straighten out the company bought by Renault, that he climbed quickly, with a reputation of hard worker. In the early 2000s, the Japanese oversaw the major cleanup among the historical suppliers, in order to create a culture of tenders that will generate significant savings.
Read alsoThe management of Nissan-Renault at the time of crash-test
At the creation of the alliance, Nissan is on the brink of bankruptcy and Renault becomes the financial savior. Circumstances that make the French manufacturer the main partner of the alliance, with a participation of 43% of the vote in Nissan which, in return, owns only 15% of the French company, without voting rights. Hiroto Saikawa has tried to remedy this imbalance, especially since Nissan's financial performance far exceeds that of Renault. In 2015, he made a proposal to reverse the partnership's balance of power, to no avail. But he leads the negotiations that lead to concessions lighter for Nissan. He comes out with the reputation of being a fervent defender of Nissan's interests against Renault. Ghosn, he was in favor of a merger between the two entities.
Married, reserved on her private life, Hiroto Saikawa has a lifestyle that contrasts sharply with the biography of her mentor – who remarried, in 2016, in great pomp at the Palace of Versailles at a party on the theme of Marie-Antoinette. Recently, the two men moved away. Last July, following the discovery of a new scandal related to the inspection of new cars in Nissan factories, Ghosn refused to interrupt his vacation on a Japanese island to return to headquarters. According to the Japanese press, he then accused his colt, who had been forced to apologize. Saikawa would not have digested the incident.
Ambush
"I am more than sorry, I feel a deep disappointment, frustration, despair, indignation and anger," says Nissan CEO on the night of Ghosn's arrest. At a hastily held press conference at the manufacturer's headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, he overwhelms his mentor on the basis of internal auditing and without even waiting for the results of the judicial investigation. It avoids the traditional excuses and bows of Japanese business owners who recognize a mistake. "It's a problem that so much authority has been given to one person," hit Hiroto Saikawa.
Three days later, he ousted Carlos Ghosn from the position of president while Renault asked him to wait and asked for more information. This eagerness raises questions about his role in the fall of his boss. Would there have been an ambush to end Carlos Ghosn's plan to merge Nissan and Renault? Interviewed on Monday at a press conference on a possible putsch, Hiroto Saikawa is indignant: "You should not think so." He writes a letter to Nissan employees where he refuses to detail the grievances on the grounds that the investigation is ongoing, but precise, without ever naming the one who is still in detention: "What we found in our investigation is intolerable. You would be surprised if you read the results yourself. "
To date, Carlos Ghosn has landed Nissan and Mitsubishi, but Renault continues to renew his confidence, for lack of evidence. Nissan plans to appoint Hiroto Saikawa as chairman of the board at its December 17 meeting, according to the Japanese press. It should have been already at the last conclave, but the project was put on hold, for fear of annoying Renault, which Carlos Ghosn is still the CEO.
Rafaële Brillaud Correspondent in Kyoto
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