Nissan's planning chief Philippe Klein leaves automaker

TOYKO -- Nissan's chief planning officer, Philippe Klein, one of the remaining executives at the automaker brought in from Renault by former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, is leaving the company.

Nissan announced Klein's departure on Friday when it confirmed its new CEO, Makoto Uchida, will take the helm on Dec. 1, ushering in a new leadership team tasked with rebuilding the scandal-tainted automaker.

Klein, a Frenchman, was appointed Nissan's planning chief in 2014, succeeding Andy Palmer who quit Nissan and later became head of Aston Martin.

Klein, 62, joined Renault as a powertrain engineer in 1981. His career included stints in Ghosn's CEO office at Nissan in 1999 and as a Nissan senior vice-president in 2007.

Among other Nissan executives who have left the company in the post-Ghosn era are Daniele Schillaci, who is now CEO of Italian brake system specialist Brembo.

Jose Munoz, Nissan's former chief performance officer, resigned in January. Hyundai hired him as its global Chief Operating Officer and the head of its North American business.

Also in January, Roland Krueger, former president of Nissan's luxury Infiniti brand, left the company to take a position heading up Dyson's automotive unit.

Arun Bajaj, global head of human resources, left in March. Also out the door were former Mitsubishi COO Trevor Mann and former Mitsubishi head of product strategy Vincent Cobee, who has joined PSA Group and is tipped to be the next CEO of Citroen.

On Friday, Nissan also confirmed Ashwani Gupta as COO and Jun Seki as vice-COO.Their appointments were announced last month, with Nissan saying they would take office sometime by Jan. 1. Among his roles Gupta will oversee global product and planning.

Hiroshi Yamauchi, who has been serving as interim CEO since the resignation of Hiroto Saikawa in September, will step down as an operating officer but stay on the board.

Among other moves announced in the shuffle, Jose Luis Valls, the president of Nissan North America, will be promoted to executive vice president at the parent company.

Christian Vandenhende, a former Renault executive who currently serves as Nissan vice-COO, will relinquish that role while keeping his current title as chief quality officer and becoming vice-chief performing officer. In the latter role, he will report to Gupta, who will function concurrently as CPO.

Stephen Ma, formerly a corporate vice president in charge of control and accounting, will be the new CFO. He replaces Hiroshi Karube, who will be leaving the company.

Also exiting after the reorganization will be Hitoshi Kawaguchi, executive vice president of external and government affairs. Kawaguchi was a central figure in the investigation of the alleged financial misconduct under ousted former Chairman Carlos Ghosn.

Ghosn's arrest last November unleashed a year of upheaval at Nissan and its alliance partner Renault. The probe of the alleged misdeeds and abuse of power nearly shattered Nissan's relations with the French automaker and triggered an exodus of executives at both companies.