Nissan Chief To Step Away From North America Unit

DETROIT, March 16 — The chief executive of Nissan Motor, Carlos Ghosn, seemed like the rare executive who could be in three places at once — Japan, where he runs Nissan; France, where he is in charge of Renault; and the United States, where he oversees Nissans operations in North America.

Carlos Ghosn had sought an alliance with General Motors.

But on Friday, he admitted that it was too much, even for him.

Mr. Ghosn told employees that he would give up responsibility for Nissans North American operations and focus on the revamping under way at Nissan and Renault.

The move, which takes effect on April 1, comes a month after Nissan warned that it expected to post a lower profit for the 2006 fiscal year, the first drop since Mr. Ghosn became chief executive in 2001.

Since he became president of Nissan in 1999, after Renault took a controlling interest, Mr. Ghosn has broken ground as a new type of automobile executive, stating bold goals and many times exceeding them.

But in recent months, Mr. Ghosn has taken a far lower profile, starting in October when General Motors rebuffed his attempt to form a broad alliance. He did not attend this months motor show in Geneva and did not plan to be at next months auto show in New York, where he has been the dominant personality.

The reason, analysts said, is that he has his hands full running two troubled companies.

His schedule required almost superhuman strength, said Jeremy Anwyl, president of Edmunds.com, a Web site that gives consumers car-buying advice. At some point you think somethings got to give, and it appears that may have been Nissan sales over the last 12 months.

Nissans sales fell 5 percent in the United States last year, when the company took a breather from a steady stream of product introductions over the last few years.

It resumed its flow of new models last fall, when it introduced restyled versions of the Altima sedan and the Sentra compact. A new small crossover vehicle, the Rouge, is expected this year, as is an Altima coupe that looks similar to a luxury model, the Infiniti G35.

Nissan sales are up 2.7 percent this year compared with the first two months of 2006.

But in response to a sharp slide in its Japanese sales, Nissan said on Friday that it would move to a single shift from April to June at the Oppama and Tochigi plants, which assemble about a dozen models that include the March subcompact and the Infiniti Q45, a luxury sedan.

Nissan said Hiroto Saikawa, the vice president for European operations, would assume Mr. Ghosns duties for North America.

His appointment came as Nissan reshuffled its management team. Its priority, Mr. Ghosn said, would be to act decisively on the multiple challenges facing Nissan and to boost our overall performance in 2007.

A spokeswoman for Nissan North America, Frédérique Le Grèves, said the company usually left senior managers in place for two years. But Mr. Ghosn had not made changes for three years and felt new assignments were overdue.

I think it was the right time for him to take the steps, Ms. Le Grèves said. And its just the right time for him to focus on the bigger picture for Nissan and Renault. He will continue to watch the U.S. very closely.

Ms. Le Grèves said Mr. Saikawa would be based in Japan, where he is also in charge of Nissans purchasing operations, leaving day-to-day responsibilities for North America to Nissan executives here.

At Nissan, Mr. Ghosn has initiated three successive revamping plans, which collectively cut the companys debt, improved its profits and expanded its global sales, particularly in the United States, where he put himself in overall charge of its operations.

But as Nissan was rising, problems occurred at Renault, where Mr. Ghosn had led a turnaround in the 1990s that honed his reputation as a restructuring specialist. Last year, Mr. Ghosn announced a recovery plan for Renault and began leading both companies.

In the midst of that, Mr. Ghosn joined forces last summer with Kirk Kerkorian, then G.M.s largest shareholder, to propose a three-way alliance of G.M., Renault and Nissan. But the discussions fell apart after G.M. demanded an upfront payment from Renault and Nissan to account for the value that it thought those two companies would gain from an arrangement.

Though Mr. Ghosn had said he might seek another North American partner, he has since backed away from the idea of expanding the Renault-Nissan alliance. Neither company has taken part in discussions with DaimlerChrysler, which is talking to potential bidders for the Chrysler Group, a sale that may take place as soon as this spring.

Although Mr. Ghosn has shied away from recent auto shows, Ms. Le Grèves said he would be back in the United States this spring, for a speech in Washington and a visit to Detroit. She pointed out that Nissan would still be profitable for the 2006 fiscal year, which ends March 31.

Nick Bunkley contributed reporting.

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