Delivering earnings growth continuously even at a profitable carmaker is not easy. Just ask Carlos Ghosn.
The chief executive of Nissan Motor is famously known for turning around a US$6.1 billion loss at the Japanese carmaker into a US$2.7 billion profit one year after he took over the wheel. That was in 2001.
Since then Mr Ghosn has driven Nissan to record-breaking profits every year and kept the firm relatively free of the host of problems besetting other car majors and the industry.
But of late Nissan has hit some bumps, prompting Mr Ghosn to declare there is a 'performance crisis' at the carmaker. 'Hitting bumps is normal,' he says, but still much of the teflon aura around the turnaround artist seems to have suddenly vanished.
Nissan's results for the year ended March reflect some of the problems that have crept up on the carmaker.
The bottom-line figure is not to be sniffed at but for the first time under Mr Ghosn's watch it has posted a decline in annual profit.
Sales have slumped, accentuated by a poor performance in its domestic market, where it lost market share and was overtaken by Honda as the second-largest Japanese carmaker. Targets are not being met and Nissan is pushing back by a year a key goal of selling 4.2 million vehicles globally by the financial year to March 2009.