Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and chief executive officer of the Renault-Nissan Alliance
Mr. Carlos Ghosn
Carlos Ghosn is chairman and chief executive officer of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, one of the world’s largest automotive groups. Mr. Ghosn also is chairman and CEO of France’s Groupe Renault, and serves as chairman of Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
In addition, Mr. Ghosn oversees the Alliance’s majority interest in the joint venture that controls AVTOVAZ, Russia’s largest automaker and manufacturer of Lada vehicles.
The Alliance companies combined employ more than 450,000 people in nearly 200 countries, and operate 122 manufacturing plants. Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and AVTOVAZ together sold 9.96 million vehicles in 2016 – more than one in nine worldwide.
Mr. Ghosn has been the industry's leading advocate for sustainable transportation; Renault and Nissan were the first automakers to launch a range of affordable zero-emission cars and commercial vehicles. The Alliance cumulatively had sold more than 432,000 electric vehicles through 2016 – accounting for about half of all EVs on the road today.
Mr. Ghosn joined Nissan as chief operating officer in 1999 and was named CEO in 2001. He was the lead architect of the Nissan Revival Plan, which brought the company out of a severe economic crisis in the late 1990s and back to profitability in 2000. He turned over the CEO role to Hiroto Saikawa on April 1, but continues to serve as chairman of the Nissan Board of Directors.
In 2005, Mr. Ghosn became CEO of Renault, making him the first executive to run two Fortune Global 500 companies simultaneously. In 2009, he added the title of chairman of the board of Renault. From 2013 to 2016, he served as chairman of AVTOVAZ. In late 2016, he was appointed chairman of Mitsubishi Motors following Nissan’s acquisition of a 34 percent stake in the Japanese automaker.
The Alliance is the most productive and longest-lasting cross-cultural partnership in automotive history. It also has significant strategic collaborations with Daimler of Germany and China’s Dongfeng Motor.
Its top 10 markets in 2016 were the United States, China, France, Japan, Russia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain. Its vehicles are sold under nine brands: Renault, Dacia, Renault Samsung, Nissan, Infiniti, Datsun, Mitsubishi, Venucia and Lada.
Mr. Ghosn serves on the International Advisory Council of Tsinghua University in Beijing and the Strategic Council of Saint Joseph University in Beirut. He is the only major auto industry CEO born and raised in emerging markets. Born in Brazil in 1954, he spent much of his youth in Lebanon. He graduated with engineering degrees from France’s École Polytechnique in 1974 and from École des Mines de Paris in 1978.