Espinoza, currently Nissan's chief planning officer, takes over as CEO at a critical time for the company. Negotiations to merge with Honda under a single holding company have collapsed, leaving the struggling manufacturer in dire need of a lifeline. Espinoza's first priority will be to seek partnerships to develop electric vehicles and technology as part of a drive to refresh an aging product lineup.
Espinoza said he regretted not speeding up product development before, while warning that "changing a big company like Nissan is not easy." He reiterated the Japanese automaker's plan to shorten the time it takes for a vehicle to go from development to production to 30 to 37 months from the current 50 to 52 months.
A mechanical engineer by training, Espinoza was responsible for the future product and service portfolios of the Nissan and Infiniti brands globally. He listed the auto industry's top challenges as electrification, connectivity and autonomous driving technology - three areas where Nissan has historically lagged.
Now tasked with finding a path forward for the automaker, Espinoza has a clear sense of the challenges he faces.
He said: "A CEO will usually deal with one or two major crises in his career. I will have to deal with four or five crises at the same time. I will try to transform the company. There is a serious morale crisis in the company. I have a lot of transformation work to do."