Carlos Ghosn
Electric cars are going to be very important for urban transportation.Collection: Car
You have to listen to the people who have a negative opinion as well as those who have positive opinion. Just to make sure that you are blending all these opinions in your mind before a decision is made.Collection: Positive
The time is right for electric cars - in fact the time is critical.Collection: Environmental
Design is important, it's an important dimension in the car. It's not the only one.Collection: Design
Electric cars are not going to take the market by storm, but it's going to be a gradual improvement.Collection: Car
When I come to a design decision, people know that is that.Collection: Design
The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them.Collection: Leadership
I approve designs not because I think I am more gifted or somebody who can see ahead three or four years from now, but just to make sure that the design is a logical, rational decision, taken after analyzing pros and cons.Collection: Design
You'll never convince me there is a hopeless situation or there is any finality in any success or any failure.Collection: Failure
Cars have a large engine in the front and you have a gearbox, which is cumbersome. Electric cars don't have this problem. The motor is much smaller, the battery is below you. This will allow you to play with different shapes.Collection: Car
Any job very well done that has been carried out by a person who is fully dedicated is always a source of inspiration.
Incentives are not strategy, they are tactics. Defensive measures.
Commitment. This is my favorite word because in some way, people who are committed are always much more interesting and much more reliable, and much more, I would say, deep than people who are not.
We continue to be bullish on China.
Employees are your most valuable assets. They are the heart and guts of a company. This doesn't mean that from time to time, you aren't going to do what is good for the company.
If you have not been a villain at a certain point in time, you will never be a hero. And the day you are a hero, you may become a villain the next day.
When your results are good, you are obviously going to have a lot of press. And when you start to falter a little bit, you are going to have some criticism, and there is nothing abnormal in that.
In most companies people make a specific contribution to the company in their function. But it is not expressed in terms of profit, only in terms of performing their function better.
I think that the best training a top manager can be engaged in is management by example.
You don't build your character by doing what everybody else is doing.
If guys try to make a bigger company for the sake of size, they don't create value in most cases.
You have to be careful to react when you start to deviate from your course.
China will be the answer to Japan's problems.
As an individual, not as the boss of a company, I am very interested in motor racing.
Profit is the most global aspect of a business, and it is cross-functional.
The Japanese people are usually very prudent, even when they are convinced change is necessary.
To face deflation, you have to have people accepting it and not reacting to it.
At the age of 20 I bought a used Fiat 127. This was the only one I could afford!
People will always challenge you on an idea as long as it has not been concretized by somebody else.
Don't believe what I say. Believe what I do.
As the CEO, I have to take care of the short term, mid term and the long term.
Every single time you make a merger, somebody is losing his identity. And saying something different is just rubbish.
When a company is facing a problem, it always takes a stance and takes a decision, but at the same time it wants to make sure of what it can learn from it, what enhancements it can make.
I mean, when you're a pioneer and you are at the forefront of an offensive, you're going to be the most optimistic person.
I love not to be busy in a certain way.
I have my family, my children - I have a lot of outside activities.
Business is tough; you need tough guys.
It would be easier to make money in other sectors, but since I was a kid, I liked cars.
You don't implement change easily in Japan unless you explain very clearly why you need to do this change, how you're going to do this change and what's going to be the outcome of this change. If you offset or you forget to explain one of these three steps you're not going to do it.
I would say a good leader brings results. A great leader writes a new story, it's different. Obviously a new story has to incorporate a lot of results. But a story is a chapter in the life of a company that people want to write and want to remember.
I always loved cars. I don't know why, I can't explain it to you. It has always been with me.
When the CEO makes a decision, people don't come back on it.
I'm the C.E.O., nominated by the shareholders. If they're not happy, I have to take the consequences.
Synergies are not only about cost reduction. Synergies can be access to markets, exchange of products, avoiding overlaps, exchange of best practices.
I don't believe in hostile moves. I don't believe they carry any value.
You want to make sure this particular car is going to please the customer and then you're going to be rewarded with something that is going to please the shareholder.
Regulations about environments are going to get tougher and tougher.
I think the new generation is much more demanding about respect for the environment than we have ever imagined.
When you're CEO, you have to have two conditions: first, shareholders need to trust you and want you to head your company. The second is that you need to feel the motivation to do the job. So, as long as both are reunited, you continue to do the job.
The most interesting information I can have about a competitor is the cost.