Nissan's Solution To Fixing Mitsubishi Is So Simple It's Brilliant

8 years, 6 months ago - 25 May 2016, Carbuzz

In the wake of Mitsubishi’s acknowledgment of its false emissions reporting to the Japanese government, a couple of things have happened. For starters, its CEO has resigned and more resignations could follow.

Second, Nissan, which rebadged affected Mitsubishi kei cars, has bought a 34 percent controlling stake in the brand. That’s a good thing for both Nissan and Mitsubishi in the long run, but for now there’s work to be done: Nissan needs to get Mitsubishi in order.

According to Reuters, Nissan is in the final stages of appointing its executive vice president in charge of product and technology and R&D, Mitsuhiko Yamashita, as Mitsubishi’s technology chief. Yamashita’s likely main task will be to reorganize Mitsubishi’s R&D division from the ground up. Basically, Mitsubishi got caught lying for 25 years and its new controlling stake holder wants to be fully sure that’ll never happen again. Appointing one of its own and trusted executives to oversee that is therefore essential. Nearly $3 billion has been wiped off Mitsubishi’s market value, but now that Nissan is calling the shots, we expect Mitsubishi to recover at some point.