June 26, 2012, 20:00 / Management / Auto

Carlos Ghosn has again become the highest paid manager in the Japanese auto industry

Nissan Motor CEO Carlos Ghosn remains the highest-paid executive in Japan's auto industry for the third year in a row. His remuneration for the past financial year (ended March 31) increased to 987 million yen ($12.45 million), Bloomberg reports, citing materials from the annual meeting of shareholders of the Japanese company. Last year, the 58-year-old CEO was paid 982 million yen (about $12.2 million at a year ago). At the same time, the compensation of the head of the largest competitor - Toyota Motor - remained at the same level, and the remuneration of the CEO of Honda Motor was reduced.

Nissan made the biggest profit among Japanese automakers in its last fiscal year for the first time in 20 years. Under Ghosn's leadership, the company recovered faster than its competitors from the earthquake in Japan and floods in Thailand.

"Ghosn has done an amazing job over the last 10-12 years, making Nissan a very strong company again," said Ashwin Chotai, managing director of Intelligence Automotive Asia. "His salary is a modest price to pay for the success that Nissan has enjoyed."

Toyota President and CEO Akio Toyoda received compensation of 136 million yen ($1.7 million) for the past fiscal year, the same as the previous one. Honda Motor President Takanobu Ito earned 123 million yen ($1.55 million) in the same period, down 5% from a year earlier. By comparison, the highest paid executive in the US auto industry, Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally, earned $29.5 million in 2011 (according to Equilar Inc).

“Top management salaries in Europe and the US are generally much higher than in Asia,” says Chotai. "Nissan's performance depends more on what it does outside Japan than what it does in Japan."

At the same time, Ghosn, who is also the CEO of Renault SA, earned only $1.7 million from the French company, which is much less than his remuneration in Japan, notes Automotive News .

Over the past fiscal year (ended March 31), Nissan earned 341.4 billion yen ($4.3 billion) in profit, 20% more than Toyota and 61% more than Honda. For the first time since 1992, the Yokohama-based automaker led the Japanese auto industry in this indicator, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Nissan's market share in the US has risen to 8.2%, and Ghosn plans to increase it to 10%. In China, the company is the largest Japanese manufacturer, having sold 425,000 cars in the local market this year (20% more than a year earlier). Nissan's forecast in the world's largest market is to increase sales by 3.8% to 1.35 million units this fiscal year.

Nissan's leadership may be short-lived, Bloomberg notes. Toyota and Honda expect net profit to rise to 760 billion yen ($9.58 billion) and 470 billion yen ($5.92 billion) in the current fiscal year, respectively, compared with Nissan's forecast of 400 million yen ($5 billion).