Nissan's New CEO Previously Said He Wanted to Revive the Silvia
Espinosa has been involved in Nissan's global product planning since 2010 and has acted as chief planning officer since April 2024.
Espinosa faces a steep uphill battle as Nissan continues to face financial troubles and falling sales figures.
Nissan has appointed Ivan Espinosa as its new CEO, and his promotion is intended to revive employee confidence in the company's top management. He was chosen today at a board of directors meeting and will take over the role on April 1. He succeeds Makoto Uchida, who has held the position of global CEO since 2019.
Espinosa is a well-known figure within Nissan, having joined the company in 2003, and he has been the chief planning officer since April 2024. He takes the reigns from Uchida while Nissan is in a precarious position. Sales are down, merger talks with Honda fell through, and Automotive News reports that the company's credit rating is now considered to be junk status.
In a news conference, Uchida apologized for leaving his role with the company in its current position. "I deeply regret that I had to pass the baton to my successor in these circumstances," the former CEO said.
Speaking at a press conference after being named CEO, Espinosa said he wants to investigate Nissan's entire strategy in North America, according to a separate AN report. "We're going to be looking at the whole system," he said.
One potential avenue Espinosa could use to try and claw Nissan back to stability could involve more enthusiast vehicles. While acting as VP of global strategy, Espinosa said it was his dream to build a new version of the Nissan Silvia. "It'll be a challenge," he said at the time. "But it's my job to find ways to do stuff like this because I think it'll be great for customers and the brand, and if I can put the right formula in place, we could make it work."
Of course, Espinosa will need to focus on bringing the embattled automaker back to profitability before Nissan can allocate resources to a new sports car. Still, with order books for the R35-generation GT-R officially closed and no replacement in sight, Nissan is without a current halo model. While reviving the Silvia currently looks like a moonshot, it's at least on the table now that Espinosa is leading the company.
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