London- Carlos Ghosn has decided to step down from his position as chief executive at the Japanese automaker Nissan, yet will continue on as Chairman of Nissan’s Board of Directors – this decision will be applicable on April 1, 2017.

Ghosn was sent in by Renault SA of France in 1999 to Nissan, saved it from bankruptcy and became its CEO two years later. He is almost done with the most recent and developed plan to expand Nissan and has promised that it will be the third company in the world.

His latest achievement was adding Mitsubishi to the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which made his goal a realistic probability especially after the withdrawal of General Motors from Europe and its focus on profitability rather than size.

Renault-Nissan Alliance ranks fourth worldwide as to production size with 9.96 million vehicles produced per year.

Ghosn will maintain his positions in Renault and Mitsubishi, knowing that he nominated Hiroto Saikawa to replace him in the executive management of Nissan – in several occasions he stated that it is preferable to appoint a Japanese chief executive.

In a statement, Ghosn considered that this step will allow him to dedicate more time and efforts to the expansion and development of the alliance.

Saikawa, who has been with the group since 1977, was promoted to the position of Co-CEO. Yet, he will have to seek a successor after a couple of years as he is approaching the age of retirement.

On October, Ghosn included Mitsubishi in Renault-Nissan Alliance through acquiring a 34% stake for USD2.3 billion – Mitsubishi is facing some structuring troubles and Ghosn is focusing on solving these problems and boosting the management’s efficiency.

Ghosn highlighted that failure happens sometimes and it is even natural, noting that leadership is represented in succeeding to persuade others do what they refuse to.