YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co CEO Carlos Ghosn said on Friday that restoring Mitsubishi Motors Corp's reputation, profitability and growth would be the biggest challenge, a day after announcing a $2.2 billion investment for a controlling stake in the troubled automaker.
"The biggest challenge is to support Mitsubishi changing itself and growing and being profitable and restoring its reputation," Ghosn told a news conference at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo.
He added that winning back consumers' trust was Mitsubishi Motors's job, but that Nissan would support its efforts.
Nissan, Japan's second-biggest automaker, agreed on Thursday to buy a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors, taking de facto control with a bet that bails out its smaller, scandal-hit rival which is in the midst of a mileage-cheating scandal.
(Reporting by Minami Funakoshi; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)