Nissan’s troubles might go all the way back to Ghosn

A lot at a Nissan plant in Mexico. The company may have overextended itself during the Ghosn era. | REUTERS

by KAZUAKI NAGATA
May 20, 2025

Nissan is in deep trouble, posting huge losses, shutting factories and laying off workers, and some analysts trace the problems all the way back to the tenure of Carlos Ghosn, who ran the company for more than 15 years.

They argue that aggressive expansion by the iconoclastic executive left the company overextended, and that the journey back to a manageable and profitable size will be difficult.

“Until Ghosn left the company, Nissan was aggressively pursuing global expansion. It has not been easy to abruptly shift that strategy and scale it down,” said Yasushi Yokoyama, a senior analyst at Aizawa Securities.