Renault, Nissan to boost tie-up

Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi plan to reboot joint operations after the departure of former alliance supremo Carlos Ghosn. France’s Renault is trying to repair relations with its Japanese partners after they were shaken by Ghosn’s arrest in Tokyo a year ago on financial misconduct charges, which the alliance’s founder denies. Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard addressed a Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi chiefs’ joint news conference in Yokohama, Japan, on March 12. Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi appointed a general secretary at the helm of their partnership to boost cooperation and reboot joint operations.

A French-Lebanese engineer has been chosen as secretary general of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi auto alliance, part of a new business framework announced a year after former boss Carlos Ghosn was arrested.

Hadi Zablit, 49, will oversee industrial cooperation projects to improve the efficiency and financial performance of the partnership, a source close to the matter said, confirming a report in French newspaper Le Figaro.

The operational revamp aims to mark a new start for the trio as they battle to emerge from the shadow cast by the legal woes of Ghosn, detained last November over allegations of financial impropriety.

Zablit is currently business development chief for the French-Japanese auto alliance, which sold 10.6 million vehicles worldwide in 2017.

The dual citizen, born in Lebanon, first joined Renault as an engineer and product manager in 1994. He left to work for the Boston Consulting Group in 2000 and returned to the French car giant nearly three years ago. Ghosn’s sudden arrest last year at a Tokyo airport sent shockwaves through the business world.

Agencies