Nissan-Renault announce 'fresh start' as car giants look to move on from Ghosn scandal

Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors sought to put the arrest of ousted head Carlos Ghosn behind them on Tuesday as the car giants unveiled a single alliance operating board and named Jean-Dominique Senard its new chair.

The three companies said the board would be the "sole body overseeing the operations and governance" of the alliance, and would be headed by recently appointed Renault chairman Senard.

During Ghosn’s lengthy tenure at Nissan, he formed the ground-breaking tie-up between France’s Renault, Japan’s Nissan and junior partner Mitsubishi to create one of the world’s largest car groups.

Last November Ghosn was arrested over alleged financial misconduct and faces trial later this year. He has been sacked as chairman of Nissan and resigned from Renault, where he was chairman and chief executive.

Analysts had speculated that the triumvirate may struggle without Ghosn at the helm, and that the scandal could even see the alliance unravel entirely. But a memorandum of understanding published on Tuesday, called the Restated Alliance Master Agreement, sought to put the future of the alliance on a more stable footing.

At press conference in at Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama, Senard confirmed he would not mirror Ghosn and look to become chairman of Nissan, reversing earlier pushes from France for his appointment. Instead, Renault has agreed to allow Nissan’s governance board to select the new chairman of the Japanese company.

Senard said he was a “natural candidate” for the role of vice chairman at Nissan, adding: “This is a real fresh new start. I’m looking at the future, not the past. You have to be surprised at the velocity with which we enter this new ear.”

The chief executives of each alliance member will also sit on the joint board