Renault chairman not Ghosn yet

The sacking of Carlos Ghosn as Renault chief executive has been held off by the French carmaker.

Ghosn’s duties have been handed to chief operations officer Thierry Bolloré in the interim, Just Auto reports.

Renault has stopped short of officially ousting Ghosn, who was sacked by Nissan, before “all information in their possession” is exchanged between the companies.

“Mr Ghosn, temporarily incapacitated, remains chairman and CEO. The board resolved to appoint Thierry Bolloré on a temporary basis as deputy CEO,” Renault says.

Bolloré will be in “permanent contact with the board of directors of Groupe Renault, the lead independent director and the committees of the board,” and is “specifically in charge of the continuity of the executive committee of Groupe Renault,” the company states.

The BBC is reporting the possibility of a “clinically planned hatched job” according to sources close to Ghosn, who is accused of under-reporting his Nissan income and using the Japanese automaker’s assets privately.

Those Ghosn-sources tell the broadcaster plans for a full merger between Renault and Nissan which were cited as advanced in their planning, were actually “never on the cards”.

The report suggests the move against Ghosn was timed with new Japanese regulations the protect whistleblowers from persecution, in an attempt to “reset the balance of power” in the alliance which includes Mitsubishi.

Renault owns 43% of Nissan, but Nissan owns only 15% of Renault.

Ghosn’s chief executive position at Nissan has been supported by Mitsubishi Motors chief executive Osamu Masuko.

“I don’t think there is anyone else on earth like Ghosn who could run Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi.”

Mitsubishi Motors has declared in a statement, “We will readily conduct an internal investigation on whether Ghosn has been engaged in the misconduct like the above within MMC”.