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PARIS – The leadership crisis within the world's largest automobile alliance has worsened on Tuesday as the French automaker Renault was ready to seek an interim authority to fill the void left behind by Carlos' arrest. Ghosn in Japan following charges of financial misconduct.
Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Ghosn, chief executive of Renault, president of Nissan and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors' board of directors, has under – reported his taxable income in half for several years.
Mr. Ghosn, who has become one of the most prominent leaders in the automotive industry, has been hailed for rethinking how automakers could share technologies and innovate in a competitive global marketplace. His arrest on Monday shocked the industry and dropped Nissan's share price to its lowest level in two years on Tuesday.
Although Nissan and Mitsubishi were preparing to break off relations with Mr Ghosn, the French government, Renault's largest shareholder, was proceeding more cautiously.
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday that Ghosn was "no longer able to lead Renault" because of his problems in Japan.
But Mr Le Mayor said France had no evidence of the crimes that Mr Ghosn had been accused of having committed in Japan and that she would not ask for her dismissal from the board of trustees. Renault administration, an icon of French society. Renault's board members were preparing to meet in an emergency session on Tuesday.
In a joint statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Mayor LeM and Hiroshige Seko, Japanese Minister of Economy, said they had spoken by phone and "reaffirmed the strong support of governments French and Japanese alliance formed between Renault and Nissan ".
Mr. Ghosn was arrested aboard his private plane at Haneda Airport, which serves Tokyo, after a whistleblower at Nissan alleged that he had not reported the 39, compensation to the Japanese Government. Another officer, Greg Kelly, whom the authorities described as the project architect, was also arrested.
Neither Mr. Ghosn nor Mr. Kelly could be reached for comment.
After a multi-month internal investigation, Nissan has announced its intention to remove Mr. Ghosn from his position as chairman at its board meeting on Thursday. The rating agency Standard & Poor's warned that it could degrade society in the face of scandal.
Nissan's profitability could "weaken considerably" in fiscal 2018 and 2019 if it turns out that the alleged misconduct of Mr. Ghosn would have hurt the company's sales or alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi, said S & P in a statement.
Mr. Ghosn introduced radical changes at Nissan starting in 1999 and developed a collaboration agreement between Nissan and Renault that allowed them to operate as a single automaker. In 2016, this agreement included Mitsubishi and all three shared the cost of developing models and cooperating on their supply chains. In 2017, the alliance accounted for the sale of 10.6 million cars.
Mr. Ghosn's rapid collapse has raised questions about the stability of the alliance as well as that of individual car manufacturers.
This prospect is particularly worrying in France, where Renault employs more than 47,000 people.
Renault's stake in Nissan is 43% and that of Renault 15%, the same size as that of the French government. As one of Japan's best-selling automakers, Nissan's size and financial performance make it the heavyweight partner of the alliance.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who faces political challenges at home and a number of polls in free fall, can not afford to stumble Renault. He called on Monday for the consolidation of the alliance, saying the state would be "extremely vigilant" about its future.
The influential French trade union CFE-CGC said it was worried about Renault's future and called for "all measures to be taken to preserve the interests of the Renault group and the alliance".
In Japan, Mitsubishi announced that it plans to conduct an internal investigation to determine whether Mr. Ghosn would also have "committed a fault" by under-reporting his compensation in the same manner.
The Mayor said that the French authorities had found nothing suspicious in the activities of Mr Ghosn in this country. "There is nothing special to report on the tax situation of Mr. Ghosn in France," he said. But, he added, if Nissan's allegations in Japan were true, "it would be of considerable gravity".
"Hiding and tax evasion is especially troubling when you're in a high-profile job and pay," he said.
Thierry Bolloré, the automaker's chief operating officer, could eventually replace Ghosn at Renault. In an internal memo to employees on Monday, he expressed "total support" to Ghosn and said management would defend Renault's interests.
Neither Nissan nor Mitsubishi reported any successors. But in its note, Standard & Poor's said rebuilding Nissan's management structure could be a challenge.
"Although Nissan has said it wants to identify its governance problems and put in place preventive measures, we believe that it will not be easy to quickly rebuild its management culture," said the rating agency.
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