Long before the downfall of his mentor Carlos Ghosn, Nissan Motor Co.’s Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa had pushed to win more power for the Japanese carmaker in its strained alliance with Renault SA. Now he has a chance to do just that.
Saikawa, 65, has emerged as the main winner from Nissan Chairman Ghosn’s shock arrest on Monday for suspected financial offenses, putting him in a position to re-balance what he and others at the Japanese company view as an increasingly lopsided partnership. Exactly how that might occur is unclear, but the idea of an outright merger between Renault