The senior executive in charge of plans to revive crisis-hit Nissan has decided to quit just weeks after taking the job, sending the carmaker's stock plunging more than three per cent on Wednesday.
Jun Seki, 58, number three at Nissan, had informed them of his decision to leave and the company had accepted it, the automaker said in a statement.
Seki, currently executive officer and vice chief operating officer, is expected to become president of major electric components maker Nidec, according to a source close to Nissan.
Ashwani Gupta, chief operating officer and number two at Nissan, should take the responsibility for the recovery plan instead of Seki, the source told AFP.
Struggling to rebuild itself after former chief Carlos Ghosn's financial scandal, Nissan just started its new management under chief executive and president Makoto Uchida on December 1.
The company said Wednesday it "has been on a steady path to regain trust, restore the company's performance and work on its business transformation, and is already seeing progress."
Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, said Seki's resignation came at "an impossible timing."