Under the agreement, Renault will slash its stake in Nissan, which will in turn take a stake of up to 15 percent in Renault's new electric vehicle venture Ampere. The Financial Times said Renault executives had long viewed Gupta as "one of the biggest obstacles in negotiations between the alliance partners" because he consistently rejected the French company's demands. They said Masakazu Toyoda, a second senior director at the firm who opposed Nissan taking a stake in Ampere, had also been forced out.