Uchida will remain a company director at least until the next annual general shareholders meeting scheduled for June.

Espinosa steps in as Nissan tries to navigate its way amidst mounting losses and falling global sales. After its failed merger talks with Honda, the Japanese carmaker found its credit rating being reduced to “junk” status.

This management shuffle is expected to be a part of a wider overhaul that Uchida announced as part of his turnaround plan. 

At the time, he said he would cut up to 9,000 jobs globally, shutter plants (including one in Thailand), and 20 percent of Nissan’s top leadership. As confidence in Uchida deteriorated, he was among those swept out in the change.

Honda says they are willing to re-explore merger with Nissan if Uchida is removed from his position.

Uchida’s time at Nissan was marked by promise, potential and then, mounting problems.

He stepped into the job as a low-profile executive, plucked from the top of Nissan’s China operations to run the global automaker in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal.

Ghosn was arrested and long gone before Uchida was promoted to succeed Ghosn’s protege, Hiroto Saikawa. Saikawa, who tried to right Nissan’s ship after Ghosn, was himself ousted following allegations of his own misconduct.

Uchida was part of a triumvirate of leaders, backed by COO Ashwani Gupta and and vice-COO Jun Seki. But Seki resigned just weeks into his new job to become president of electric motor supplier Nidec, and Gupta left in 2023 under a cloud of hostility.