Carlos Ghosn Says Nissan Wanting Him Back Is Common Sense

Happy Thursday! It's June 26, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're looking at Carlos Ghosn's thoughts on Nissan investors who want him back, and Ford's goals of quality automaking. We'll also look at cuts at Renault, and the uphill battle ahead of Jaguar Land Rover. 

Carlos Ghosn, former Nissan CEO turned international fugitive, is never as far from the spotlight as a fugitive probably should be. In response to investors clamoring for his return the other day, the did an interview with Reuters in which he said he's Nissan's only hope — and that acting as an advisor wouldn't be enough to save the company. From Reuters: 

Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn said calls by some shareholders for his return reflected deep anger over ​years of failed turnaround plans, accusing the automaker's leadership of squandering value and losing direction since his 2018 ouster.

In an interview with ‌Reuters, Ghosn said investors had "had enough" after three chief executives failed to revive the company. At Nissan's annual meeting on Tuesday, CEO Ivan Espinosa faced shareholder anger and a proposal from at least one investor to bring back the fugitive executive — an effort that failed as shareholders overwhelmingly backed the board.

"It's a reaction with plenty of common sense," Ghosn said. "You can feel ​the anger and the frustration of the shareholders."

...

Asked whether he would consider advising Nissan again if circumstances changed, Ghosn said advice would not be enough.

"The only job to save the ​company is a CEO job," he said. "It has to be somebody who is really the decision-maker. There is an ​emergency in Nissan, and ⁠tough decisions have to be made."

"If there is one person or one profile today who can make it happen, it's mine," he said. "I'm not saying it because I'm arrogant. I'm saying it because of the facts. I've done it already once. I know the company from all the angles."

Personally, if I were on the run after being accused of stealing a bunch of money from a company, I wouldn't pitch that I should be put back in charge of said company. I think that would be a hard sell, and I would also probably be too busy enjoying life on a beach somewhere. I have my issues with Ivan Espinosa's leadership at Nissan, sure, but I don't know that Carlos Ghosn is the solution. 

Ford's had some real issues with quality recently, putting out a staggering number of recalls last year and continuing the trend into 2026. Now the company is being celebrated for doing well in JD Power's initial quality study, in hopes that it means things have turned around in Dearborn. From Automotive News:

Ford Motor Co., after setting an industry record for recalls and struggling to fix production snags on some new models, surged from below average on last year's JD Power U.S. Initial Quality Study to become the highest-ranked mass-market brand for 2026.

Porsche took the overall top spot, with Genesis second and Ford third. Lexus, last year's overall winner, fell to No. 4.

Ford also earned best-in-segment awards for the F-150, Mustang and Super Duty. Seven of Ford's 10 tested models ranked in the top three of their segments, the most of any automaker.

Here's the issue: the "initial quality" survey measures the number of issues that crop up in the first 90 days of ownership. If a car is recalled on day 91 — something that may well happen, given that recalls definitionally happen after the sale — it doesn't count for the survey. 

Automakers left and right are slashing their workforces to compete with China. Does this make sense? Not really, but it's one of the only business moves that MBAs can understand. Here's Renault doing it, from Reuters: 

PARIS, June 24 (Reuters) – French automaker Renault Group is planning to cut 800 engineering jobs in France by ​the end of 2027 in a bid to make its organisation ‌leaner to better compete with Chinese rivals.

Chinese makers have more than tripled their market share in Europe over the past two years, with technologically advanced products ​and very competitive prices, Philippe Brunet, Renault's chief technology officer, ​told reporters in a conference call.

"All other manufacturers are suffering, ⁠the Koreans, the Japanese in Europe, or other Europeans, including us," ​he added. "We must be able to compete against this."

With a workforce of ​5,500, France accounts for half of Renault's global engineering staff. In mid-April, Renault, one of the smallest legacy car makers, said it planned to reduce its total ​engineering workforce by 15% to 20% by the end of 2027, ​and the 800 job cuts would be part of that move.

Rather than building cheaper cars, or sacrificing profits, these automakers are cutting engineering staff — y'know, the people who design a company's future models — so they can drop prices without impacting their own earnings. Sacrificing long-term gains in favor of short-term gains is famously a super good and sustainable way to run a company. 

Jaguar Land Rover is leaderless in North America right now, and whoever takes the role next has a big job ahead of them. Arguably a Sisyphean endeavor. I, for one, don't envy whoever gets the gig. From Automotive News: 

JLR's next North American CEO will be stepping into a pressure cooker of a job.

The tick list, as the British say, is a long one.

The challenges include relaunching the Jaguar brand, managing volatile trade policy, boosting sales and revenue, and rolling out several Range Rover electric vehicles. JLR's next North American boss faces the rockiest landscape since Jaguar and Land Rover combined in 2008 under Tata Motors ownership.

The new CEO must also address lingering problems such as improving quality and lowering warranty outlays, and newer priorities, notably managing how to develop and manufacture products with Stellantis.

I still don't think Jaguar's seemingly-aborted new era is remotely woke, but that's something the new boss will have to contend with anyway. We live in dumb times. 

The flag's changed a number of times since Gilbert Baker's original version — losing two colors, then the progress variant, then additions on top of that — but it's stood the test of time.

Now that gas is free, where are you going on your road trip in your Ford Expedition?

A friend of mine introduced me to Underscores last night, and it's wild I hadn't listened to her before.