Quotes By Carlos Ghosn

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

We are facing extreme volatility.

I think that the best training a top manager can be engaged in is management by example.

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

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.

We have some worse scenarios for which we need to prepare as companies. For the moment, we're planning for the worst, and the worst is now, and the car market is down more than 15 percent in France. There is so much uncertainty.

There are always lessons that can be learned from another manufacturer. You can learn from their successes and from their mistakes also. But you cannot replicate; you can only learn.

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.

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.

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

China will be the answer to Japan's problems.

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

When you're C.E.O., 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. And today, they are reunited.

If we come to the conclusion after 90 days that the synergies are big enough to justify the efforts, then we can go to the second step, which consists of saying: what would be the best organization and conditions - including shareholdings - in order to make sure the synergies happen.

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.

The most interesting information I can have about a competitor is the cost.

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

You have to be careful to react when you start to deviate from your course.

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

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.

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

When the CEO makes a decision, people don't come back on it.

In a difficult and uncertain environment, Renault remains on track to meet its 2012 objective.