Carlos Ghosn Quotes

At the age of 20 I bought a used Fiat 127. This was the only one I could afford!

Talking about stepping down in five years is frankly not a topic of particular actuality now.

India is definitely one of the markets where we can expect growth and a potential to do well.

I'm the C.E.O., nominated by the shareholders. If they're not happy, I have to take the consequences.

It would be easier to make money in other sectors, but since I was a kid, I liked cars.

More and more, in any company, managers are dealing with different cultures. Companies are going global, but the teams are being divided and scattered all over the planet.

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.

The time is right for electric cars - in fact the time is critical.

Every single time you make a merger, somebody is losing his identity. And saying something different is just rubbish.

Synergies are not only about cost reduction. Synergies can be access to markets, exchange of products, avoiding overlaps, exchange of best practices.

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.

Any job very well done that has been carried out by a person who is fully dedicated is always a source of inspiration.

Is Europe going to be breaking? I don't think so. I think the euro will stay. I think at the end of the day Europeans will find the solutions in order to hold Europe together.

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 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.

Profit is the most global aspect of a business, and it is cross-functional.

We don't want to be something for everybody, we want to be everything for some people.

Regulations about environments are going to get tougher and tougher.

Good is somebody who delivered and allowed the company to overcome obstacles, without leaving a profound impact on its culture. Great is somebody who leads his company to achievements and performance and value that nobody was expecting it had.

Incentives are not strategy, they are tactics. Defensive measures.

I think the new generation is much more demanding about respect for the environment than we have ever imagined.

As an individual, not as the boss of a company, I am very interested in motor racing.

I don't believe in hostile moves. I don't believe they carry any value.

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.

The Japanese people are usually very prudent, even when they are convinced change is necessary.

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.

I always loved cars. I don't know why, I can't explain it to you. It has always been with me.

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.

Electric cars are not going to take the market by storm, but it's going to be a gradual improvement.

We don't know where the markets are going....we have to observe what's going down, see the trends, look at every vibration on the market, prepare the technology and jump when consumers start to think one way or the other

I have my family, my children - I have a lot of outside activities.

I think that the best training a top manager can be engaged in is management by example. I want to make sure there is no discrepancy between what we say and what we do. If you preach accountability and then promote somebody with bad results, it doesn't work. I personally believe the best training is management by example. Don't believe what I say. Believe what I do.

Design is important, it's an important dimension in the car. It's not the only one.

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.

Being in a multicultural environment in childhood is going to give you intuition, reflexes and instincts. You may acquire basic responsiveness later on, but it's never going to be as spontaneous as when you have been bathing in this environment during childhood.

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.

We are not making a capital investment into GM as the first element or condition.

I think we're going to have some difficulty in front of us. I have absolutely no doubt the next three, four years Europe are going to be at best stagnation. We are preparing for tough times.

What I worry about is not just Nissan, but Japanese manufacturers losing motivation to maintain production in Japan. The high yen is definitely a headwind.

Being a good leader today doesn't mean you'll be a good leader 10 years from now. You have to adapt to the times

The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them.

If guys try to make a bigger company for the sake of size, they don't create value in most cases.

The biggest enemy of management is indifference. It's when people don't give a damn

The low price of oil is a headwind to investments in alternative energy technologies, but it will not stop them.

You don't build your character by doing what everybody else is doing.

Electric cars are going to be very important for urban transportation.

To face deflation, you have to have people accepting it and not reacting to it.

You'll never convince me there is a hopeless situation or there is any finality in any success or any failure.