Embattled Japanese automaker Nissan has tapped Jeremie Papin, who was overseeing its U.S. operations, as its chief operating officer in a major management reshuffle billed as key to a turnaround.
The move as announced in the United States on Thursday. It means Papin, chairman of Nissan’s Americas Management Committee, replaces Stephen Ma, who will oversee Nissan Motor Corp.’s China operations.
Ma’s replacement had been speculated about for some time, given Nissan’s problems in the key U.S. market, lately dominated by Tesla, Toyota and Ford.
Last month, Nissan said it was slashing 9,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global work force, and reducing global production capacity by 20% after reporting a quarterly loss of 9.3 billion yen ($61 million). That was a reversal from the 190.
7 billion yen profit recorded the same quarter a year ago. Sales for the quarter through September fell to 2.9 trillion yen ($19 billion) from 3.
1 trillion yen. Chief Executive Makoto Uchida took a 50% pay cut to take responsibility for the results and acknowledged Nissan needed to become more efficient and respond better to market tastes, rising costs and other global changes. “These executive changes reflect the experience and urgency needed to get the company back on track,” Uchida said in a statement.
“Nissan will continue to focus on future growth and steadily execute these turnaround efforts to ensure sustainable profitability.” Papin will steer a recovery, given his experience in stra.