At the same time, in Tokyo, Nissan announces catastrophic first quarter results. The Japanese automaker reports a 98.5% drop in sales.

Caught at its own game and struggling to contain the leaks from the press that the group is so fond of, the Japanese manufacturer is facing an unprecedented drop in performance in almost 10 years.

Only eight months after Carlos Ghosn’s departure, the situation is very worrying for Nissan and therefore for the Alliance.

Through the Alliance’s cross-shareholding system, Nissan’s collapse led to the collapse of Renault, which also announced results at half-mast on 26 July 2019.

Nissan therefore took drastic measures and announced a social plan with a cut of nearly 12,500 jobs.

These are all results that contrast with the legacy of Carlos Ghosn, as Philippe Riès, a journalist and former head of AFP’s Tokyo bureau, reminded during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo.

Carlos Ghosn had indeed managed to make these two companies the world’s number one (in volumes) in 2017 and 2018.