Nissan Is Living On Borrowed Time: Report

[Yardbird]

Nissan Is Living On Borrowed Time: Report​

Story by Evan Williams
3 min read


Nissan might be in more trouble than we thought. The Financial Times says a senior official told it the company has "12 or 14 months to survive." Nissan needs to turn things around in a hurry, and the report says it is looking for a new anchor investor to help bring financial stability to the struggling Japanese automaker.

Nissan
Nissan Motor Corporation is a Japanese automaker founded in 1933 and the parent automaker of Infiniti and formerly Datsun. Nissan produces a wide variety of mass-market vehicles, including popular SUVs like the Rogue, sedans like the Sentra, and trucks like the Nissan Frontier, but is also responsible for iconic sports cars like the Nissan Z and GT-R. Since 1999, Nissan has been part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance (the name changed when Mitsubishi joined in 2016).

Founded 26 December 1933
Founder Yoshisuke Aikawa
Headquarters Nishi-ku, Yokohama
Owned By Publicly Traded
Current CEO Makoto Uchida

In October, the company said in a press conference that it was in "emergency mode." Sales were down for the fifth month in a row, with sales in China down nearly 25 percent. Executives cut profit forecasts, and it seemed like the Japanese automaker was holding on until the promised (and expensive) onslaught of 30 new products, including hybrids and EVs, arrived.

Nissan Wants Big Money Investor To Take Over Renault Stake​

Now it wants a big investor - think banks or another automaker - to help replace some of the shares that alliance partner Renault has been selling.

The report says that Nissan has not ruled out having Honda buy some of its shares. In March, Honda and Nissan announced that they were exploring a technology partnership to help both companies develop EVs and other modern vehicle tech. In August the two announced that they had agreed to join forces to research next-generation software-defined vehicles as well as standardize their electric motor systems down the road to allow tech and parts sharing there.

“This is going to be tough. And in the end, we need Japan and the US to be generating cash,” said the senior official close to Nissan. The same official said that the company has just 12 to 14 months to get itself sorted out.

Honda A Possible Suitor For Its Rival​

According to the Financial Times, sources close to Renault said that the French automaker would be open to selling some of its share of Nissan to Honda. It quoted a source as saying that closer ties between the two would "only be positive" for Renault.

The EV space is about to take another leap forward.
Renault, along with Mitsubishi, has been in a strategic partnership alliance with Nissan since 1999, though the collaboration has struggled since the arrest and imprisonment of CEO Carlos Ghosn in 2018. The balance between the three partners has recently shifted. Renault cut its share of Nissan from 43 percent to just under 36 percent last year. Nissan is cutting its stake in Mitsubishi from 34 percent to 24 percent as it looks to find cash to get through the next year.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/nissan-is-living-on-borrowed-time-report/ar-AA1uTepK

 

[Yardbird]

Covid and EV craziness is about to claim another one.

The goal of no cars for the regular people is coming. England is on a fast track to zero cars with their ever-increasing regulations against automobiles.

There is a worldwide push to put people back on their feet, or on mass transit in their own little area.

Nissan lost their way a while ago. They were doing well in the 1970's and for a while afterward. Something changed, and their designs and quality couldn't keep up with Toyota.

 

[tjfdesmo]

As soon as Renault came along their fate was sealed.