Hadi Zablit named general secretary of Renault, Nissan alliance

TOKYO (Reuters) – Renault SA (PA:), Nissan Motor Co (T:) and Mitsubishi Motors (T:) on Wednesday said they had appointed Hadi Zablit as general secretary of their automaking alliance to accelerate business efficiencies across the companies.

Zablit, now a senior vice president of business development at the alliance, takes up the new position on Monday and will focus on maximising the contribution of the alliance’s scale to the profits of each company, the automakers said in a statement.

The announcement comes as Nissan and Renault try to mend ties amid falling profits a year after the Carlos Ghosn scandal. Nissan brought in a new executive team this week, while Renault is set to choose a new CEO in the coming weeks.

Renault has held a 43% stake in Nissan since the French automaker rescued Nissan from a financial crisis two decades ago. Their partnership has focused on using their combined scale to lower costs for research and development, procurement and production.

Both automakers and their junior partner Mitsubishi were shaken by the arrest of former chairman Ghosn last November on allegations of financial misconduct, which he denies.

This year, Renault tried to forge deeper ties with Nissan, only to be rebuffed by the Japanese automaker. This week, Nissan’s new CEO, Makoto Uchida, told reporters that the alliance had “to benefit each of its partners in terms of revenue and profit”

He added that closer capital ties with Renault were not a focus in the short term.

In a statement, the alliance said that it would announce further details of its efficiency plans in coming weeks.

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