Carlos Ghosn talks Trump, Mitsubishi

Carlos Ghosn is animated. He obviously enjoys facing a roomful of journalists in a wildcard Q&A session. Few other CEOs are as accessible and as open as Ghosn, CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, and this format is as off the cuff as a Bonds singlet.

There’s no zig or zag in his answers. He goes right to the point on a wide range of topics from the recent acquisition of Mitsubishi Motors to a Trump US presidency and its impact on Nissan.

As of October 20, when Nissan announced it had paid $US2.3 billion for a 34 per cent stake and managerial control of Mitsubishi Motors, Ghosn now oversees a growing automotive empire within an industry that’s rapidly changing as new technologies are developed.

The man has a knack at financially correcting errant companies by reducing manufacturing costs, trimming waste and, more importantly, changing corporate culture.

The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is a 10 million car-a-year conglomerate. Ranked by global sales, it rivals Toyota, Volkswagen AG and General Motors. It is the new giant in the room.

Ghosn talks China for a moment, knowing this is where the Alliance is weak. Conversely, Renault sales are strong in Europe and Nissan-Infiniti has a 10 per cent market share in the US.

Ghosn has already made major executive changes at Mitsubishi, with the overall plan to consolidate suppliers and find synergies where Nissan and Mitsubishi can share components and reduce costs.

Ghosn’s man on the ground is Philippe Klein, a Frenchman based in Yokohama, Japan, responsible for product planning at Nissan. He reports directly to Ghosn.

“We are not integrating Mitsubishi,” claims Klein. “We going to try to establish the same type of relationship as the one we have with Renault and Nissan. That means we’re going to try and share as many components, platforms and technology as possible.

"Yet, Mitsubishi will remain responsible for its product portfolio and designing its own cars. It remains a different company.”

He adds: “It is exactly the same business model we’re applying to Mitsubishi as we’ve been applying to Renault and Nissan for the past 17 years.”

Through technology and component sharing between Nissan and Mitsubishi, Klein and Ghosn will trim more than 24 billion yen (more than $A280m) from Nissan’s production costs in 2017.

Before the Alliance had released its 2016 global sales figures, Ghosn claims Renault-Nissan had a record year. “2017 will be higher,” he jabs and predicts sales will continue to grow for the next five to 10 years.

Asked what he expects from Donald Trump as US president, Ghosn says: “He is America first and jobs for the United States – that’s fine for us. We are building enough cars in the US for the US market.”

In 2016 Nissan built 640,000 cars at its factory in Tennessee, and has capacity of 450,000 vehicles from its plant in Mississippi.

“Our concern is new cars for the future. And before we can make these kinds of decisions, we need to understand the economic conditions and trade that is going to exist between the United States and Mexico,” says Ghosn.

“Our concern is that there is one rule for everybody.”