Carlos Ghosn

About

Carlos Ghosn, one of the world’s most respected business leaders, was chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the automotive collaboration of France's Groupe Renault, Japan's Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. He was chairman and CEO of Groupe Renault and chairman of Nissan Motor and Mitsubishi Motors. Ghosn is perhaps best known for orchestrating the remarkable turnaround of Nissan from near bankruptcy in . In addition to being the auto industry’s longest-serving current CEO, he is the first executive to run two companies on the Fortune Global 500 simultaneously. When Ghosn joined Nissan in 1999, it had debt of $20 billion and only four of its 48 models generated a profit. Twelve months into his three-year turnaround plan, Nissan was again in the black, and within three years it was one of the industry's most profitable automakers. Ghosn was an outspoken proponent of zero-emission electric vehicles. Led by the innovative Nissan LEAF and Renault ZOE, the automakers were the first to offer a fleet of affordable, mass-market EVs. As of early 2017, the Alliance had sold more than 441,000 EVs. Ghosn was also establishing the Alliance as a leader in the development of future automotive technology, such as autonomous drive and connected vehicles and services. He divided his time between Renault in Paris and Nissan and Mitsubishi in Japan. Forbes described him as "the hardest-working man in the brutally competitive global car business.” The Alliance – which also included Russia's largest automaker, AVTOVAZ – has grown to become the world’s largest automotive group in 2017 producing and selling more than 10.5 million vehicle. The Alliance was the most productive, longest-lasting, cross-cultural partnership in automotive history.