Yokohama (Japan) (AFP)

Nissan's new CEO, Makoto Uchida, said in an exclusive interview with AFP on Thursday that one of his top priorities was to "restore" a relationship of trust in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors alliance. by demonstrating "transparency".

"To respect each other, to understand each other, to be transparent, to put any problem or issue on the table without hiding anything, to show everything: once we start that, trust will come back," said Uchida, adding: one of my first priorities ".

Aged 53, Mr. Uchida came to the Japanese manufacturer on December 1st. He previously led the group's operations in China, and was also responsible for the group's 2016 to 2018 alliance purchases.

The appointment of this Japanese-friendly alliance of three manufacturers, with an international profile and fluent English had been greeted with relief by Renault, whose relationship with Nissan was destabilized by the shattering eviction of Carlos Ghosn, arrested in November 2018 in Japan and then prosecuted for alleged financial malpractices.

"The difficulties of the past have sometimes made people uncomfortable with their work" within the alliance, acknowledged Mr. Uchida, who received AFP in its offices on the 21st floor of Nissan headquarters in Yokohama , in the suburbs of Tokyo.

"My job is to go back to the fundamentals (...), to restore that original spirit that we had at Nissan and in the alliance to be able to advance more professionally".

- Anticipate Brexit -

Uchida also said he was "looking forward" to working with Hadi Zablit, the French-Lebanese engineer who has just been named secretary general of the tripartite alliance.

"I know him very well ... He can have a neutral position, which is good for the alliance," said Uchida.

Nissan's profits and sales are currently at half-mast, penalized by the slowdown in the global automotive market but also by the lack of renewal of its models and the end of its incentive schemes aimed at supporting its volumes.

The group also initiated this year a major restructuring of its production capacity, with a view to reducing them by 10% by the end of March 2023, which implies the elimination of 12,500 jobs worldwide.

Fears are particularly strong for the two large factories of the group in Europe, in Sunderland (north-east of England) and Barcelona in Spain, where a total of 9,500 people work.

Uchida did not reveal on Thursday where the cuts were going to take place, or whether he was still planning to intensify the weight loss plan launched this year by his predecessor, Hiroto Saikawa, pushed to resign because of his ties. in the Ghosn case.

However, he reminded that Nissan "had to prepare" to face the many "uncertainties" weighing on its activity.

Brexit, a crucial issue in the British legislative elections on Thursday, "is something we must anticipate, but we do not know what the outcome will be (...) We are in discussion, we are planning", he commented.

Europe will, however, "clearly" remain an important Nissan market in the future, he said: "all regions are important".

© 2019 AFP