October 13, 2025 • 35 mins
Can Nissan recover from its fall from grace and quality left from its failed marriage to Renault? Join us as we explore how Nissan wound up falling so far out of favour with consumers and the automotive world as a whole. Follow us as we journey through Nissan’s failed alliance, to the mismanagement from its previous CEO. We take a look at how this company fell so far and how they can still turn it all around. This change may require some drastic changes, but if Nissan is up to the task, they can carve out a new road for their future.
Everett J.
#autolook
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I saw them when I was a child.
My dad owned a bunch of them, old school
Datsun trucks.
Yeah, it was North America, these things
were around.
It was the 80s still, and Datsun had yet
become Nissan once again.
These pickup trucks were a part of my
childhood and cruising around in the box of
them because you know, that was loud back
then unlike now, and even when my dad had
(00:22):
the King Cab one one going out to camp and
watching my dog run back and forth in the
back of the vehicle.
It was great times.
There's great memories and those things
were a part of my childhood and I think
back to all the different vehicles.
My parents owned that old Dastun king cab.
That was a pretty cool truck.
It stayed up.
It did my dad good, got him back and forth
to work, helped him build a house and even
(00:43):
got him through some rough times when he
had to turn around and sell it off because
it was getting too much to repair.
It was kind of a hard thing and at my young
age you know, being around seven or eight
years old at the time I got my first camera
and one of the first pictures I ever took
in my life was of my old Datsun king cab
that my dad had Painted in dark navy blue
(01:05):
trim-clad navy blue, to be exact, done with
a hand brush.
That truck brought back some great memories
and seeing trucks like that on the road
today, I wondered to myself what could have
been.
Nissan was a great company.
At one point in time they were one of the
top-tier manufacturers, going after the
North American marketplace.
They were fighting it out with Toyota and
(01:25):
keeping Honda, Mitsubishi and even Suzuki
at bay.
Nissan was it?
They were the number two Japanese automaker.
So what happened to them and why is it now?
We have to figure a way out to save them.
Well, today AutoLooks is going to take a look
at Nissan and how we could save them from
disappearing once again, just like their
previous nameplate, the Datsun nameplate.
(01:55):
Welcome back to the AutoLooks Podcast.
I'm your host, as always the doctor to the
automotive industry, Mr. Everett Jay, coming
to you from our host website at AutoLooks.net.
If you haven't been there, stop by check it.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
the ratings.
Go to the Corporate Links website page.
Big or small, we have them all Car
companies from around the globe, all
available in one direct location that is
autolooks.net.
(02:17):
The AutoLooks Podcast is brought to you by
Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by
PodBean.com.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email@autolooks.net.
If you wonder why I sound a little weird on
this one, I'm kind of stuffed up.
It's been a day I should say an afternoon
with a bunch of dogs and a dusty house.
My nose is just going weird.
Just another thing to take it all in.
But I promise you I won't be snorting and
snarling and sneezing in this podcast,
(02:40):
unless you really want to hear that.
It's kind of weird.
I don't do those podcasts.
So, like I said in the beginning of this
podcast, how can we save Nissan?
What is really wrong with Nissan and where
did it go wrong?
Well, let's just say Nissan did the same
thing as Chrysler at the end of the 90s to
expand their horizons, they decided to get
(03:01):
in bed with another auto manufacturer, one
that wanted to expand its horizons outside
of the European marketplace.
Yes, Renault and Nissan decided to get in
bed with each other.
Now, it wasn't a merger, it wasn't a
takeover, it was an alliance.
They were utilizing each other to better
build their brands.
(03:21):
But how do you do that?
How do you build two standard automotive
brands together without cannibalizing each
other's sales and, on top of that, owning
other divisions like Dacia, Mitsubishi and
Lada?
How does that not destroy?
How do you focus on every single global
market, trying to expand your brand, build
(03:44):
this amazing alliance up?
Well, you can't.
We all knew it was eventually going to fail.
We all figured Carlos Ghosn probably ripped
them off, probably did some bad shit behind
you know that dark curtain that he hid
behind Hell.
The man had to be smuggled out of Japan so
he wouldn't spend the rest of his life in
jail, just proving that there's something
(04:05):
shady going on in the background.
But this all came out of the limelight when
Diesel gate happened with Volkswagen.
After Diesel gate, every auto manufacturer
around the world was being scrutinized down
to their final periods, at the end of each
one of their sentences, in every document
they wrote, and Nissan being included.
(04:25):
Things started coming out and that rope
didn't have a good knot in it because it
started to unwind.
Yes, the rope of the
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance was
falling apart.
Mitsubishi had tried in an early day to
build electric cars with the i-Miev.
(04:45):
Didn't really take off, didn't really get
out there.
But Mitsubishi was looking at a future when
tesla was just starting out, Nissan decided
to utilize that technology for its own self
and built us the lee, the most butt ugly
looking car you could find on the road at
that point in time.
Why?
Well, the FIAT Multipla and the Pontiac
Aztec were now behind us and we needed
(05:08):
something new to give the worst design in
the world, and Nissan decided to do it with
the leaf.
They saw how Toyota gave the world the
Prius, and hybrid technology was great, but
Nissan wanted to one-up them and, and since
Mitsubishi didn't really take off with the
electric car with the i-Miev, they decided to
hey, let's go LL in on an electric car, not
(05:30):
a hybrid, full electric, plug-in sedan Well,
essentially, plug-in hatchback.
They gave us the leap.
It looked like it was the future.
It was the first economically viable
electric car on the market.
So how did we go from that to a complete
financial collapse of the corporation we
have today?
(05:51):
Well, along those lines, Renault, Nissan,
Dacia, Lada, Mitsubishi were all trying to
grow.
At this point in time, the war with Russia
hadn't started, so Lada was starting to
make inroads into Eastern European
countries.
Unfortunately for them, Renault was trying
to expand the Dacia brand within those
(06:14):
areas, because Renault knew from watching
Volkswagen and Skoda.
They need an entry-level product range and
Dacia was perfect for it.
It a small, little Romanian car company
that only built these cheap, reliable
little vehicles being manufactured so cheap
they could utilize them well.
Nissan took it upon themselves to enter the
Indian marketplace with its own entry-level
(06:36):
brand.
They saw that Indy was growing and they
decided to bring back the Datsun nameplate
for it.
Working off the knowledge from their
alliance partner Renault and Dacia, they
decided to give us the Datsun platform and
again gave birth to a new entry-level
vehicle.
Unfortunately, not making all of those
vehicles in India comes at a price, price
(06:59):
that puts your vehicle priced above
products from Tata, products from Mahindra,
products from Maruti Suzuki.
So your entry level is starting to look
more like standard products.
These were starting to fight it out with
Nissan products and with only little
hatchbacks, tall wagon crossovers and
(07:20):
cross-track vehicles, Datsun had really
nowhere to grow, unless they were going to
get into sedans, micro trucks or even small
key cars.
They had nowhere else to go.
The Indian marketplaces started to ban
crossover utility vehicles, like everywhere
else in the world, and instead Datsun gave
us a cross-track variation, the Datsun
(07:43):
Cross.
Okay, the Datsun Cross was kind of neat.
It was more of an enhanced version of the
Datsun Maidu or even the Datsun Go, but it
wasn't what we needed.
Sure, the year is 2019, but in 2019, the
Indian marketplace is going full in, like
the rest of the world, in crossover utility
vehicles.
You can't give us these little Datsun
vehicles.
The hatchback and crossover market is dying,
(08:05):
even in India.
So Nissan, by the 2020s, when COVID hit,
decided to shutter their brand.
With that, Nissan took a hit at entry level.
Now, they weren't fighting it out with
entry level products from Maruti Suzuki or
Tata in that marketplace.
They had to rely directly on Nissan
marketplace.
(08:25):
They had to rely directly on Nissan.
But unfortunately, with the fallout of
Carlos Ghosn and all these finances hitting
the ceiling, Renault wasn't going to let
Nissan take this market.
Datsun was supposed to be the alliance's
answer to Dacia in the Indian marketplace,
but instead, when Datsun failed, Renault
decided to utilize Datsun products to bring
Renault into the Indian marketplace,
(08:46):
fighting it out head to head with its own
alliance brother, Nissan.
They were literally fighting it out in one
of the biggest growing automotive markets
in the world and with that, Nissan was
taking a hit.
But on top of that, they were taking a hit
in Nissan's biggest market, their home
(09:07):
market of Japan.
With them being spread so thin across the
world and Renault being as big and powerful
as it was, owning so many manufacturing
plants and so many suppliers all over the
globe, Missan was starting to learn that
this alliance was more of a takeover on
Renault's part, and with that they decided
to start pulling themselves back from the
(09:30):
alliance Still part of it today, but
they've pulled themselves back.
Them Mitsubishi have pulled back.
Now it's more of a Renault-Dacia and
Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.
Lada has been completely pulled the plug on.
Now Lada is having an issue because of the
fact that they were starting to utilize
Dacia platforms and Nissan technology to
(09:50):
build brand new products for the Russian
marketplace.
But when you go to war, the rest of the
world cuts you off.
Well, sorry about your luck, but you're a
little fucked right there, and hence they
are right today.
So this fight in India was taking money and
resources away from the home market of
Japan.
Got to, remember?
Nissan and Toyota have been head to head
since the 1960s.
(10:11):
They've both been vying to be the top dog
in the Japanese marketplace.
Sure, Mazda's come up and tried to fight
them and Honda's come up and tried to fight
them.
And Suzuki's come up and tried to fight
them.
But Nissan and Toyota are like GM and Ford
they're constantly battling for supremacy
of their home market.
But while Nissan was fighting to take on
the rest of the world with Renault, they
(10:32):
forgot about their home market.
And they also forgot about the largest
export home market to them, china.
With a failed launch in China, Nissan
wasn't getting anywhere.
They had nobody to fall back on.
They had to go all alone in the Chinese
marketplace.
Why?
Because Renault is like that ex-boyfriend
(10:54):
or girlfriend who turns all your friends
against you when they leave the
relationship.
And that's exactly what happened.
Renault was taking everyone with them.
Sure, Mitsubishi wasn't going, because
Mitsubishi had the back of their Japanese
brother.
They were holding strong with Nissan and
building all of these products together.
(11:14):
Well, let's just say it was an amazing
thing, and today we're starting to see how
those two can go together.
Now Mitsubishi has gotten more into bed
with Renault, now to expand their global
presence, as Nissan has literally had the
rug ripped from underneath of it, finances
destroyed, market share destroyed.
Essentially, this alliance brought it to
(11:36):
its knee tons of plants everywhere, tons of
manufacturing, tons of design studios and
parts and platforms.
On top of it you got to remember Datsun had
its own platform.
Nissan has nearly an entirely different
platform.
Really, every market they're spread so thin
that when they started losing market share
(11:58):
in one, it's like an abdominal effect
bringing the whole corporation down.
So how do do we save them?
How do we save Nissan from disappearing?
Well, Chrysler Corporation is starting to
make its way back.
It's hit the bottom of the barrel and it
has nowhere to go but up.
Nissan hasn't hit the bottom of the barrel
Now.
If they hit the bottom of the barrel, they
(12:18):
would have lost tons of their market.
Getting into bed with electric vehicles and
having the entire market collapse on you
two years later with all this investment
made into it, is really hammering them
right now.
Unlike their biggest competitor, Toyota,
who decided to keep hybrid technology,
Nissan decided to get away from hybrids and
(12:39):
either go gas only or electric only, and
with that there was no in between.
One of the biggest ways right now Nissan
could save its hide and keep itself going
into the future is by having plug-in
hybrids or standard hybrid technology put
back into their vehicles E-power they used
to have.
(13:00):
They need to give back the hybrid that they
once had, adding hybrid technology back
into all their major platforms, making new
platforms that they're working on right now.
Be able to handle both battery, electric,
hybrid and fully gas operational products
together on one platform is where they need
(13:21):
to go, and when you have the ability to put
in a trunk combustion engine in it and a
battery pack, you have the ability to be
flexible for hydrogen in the future as well.
So with that, they could focus on all the
brand new power sources, and they already
have the groundwork for this built.
As they were building battery technology
for all these brand new vehicles, they were
(13:41):
learning how they could build this together
with an internal combustion engine.
The unfortunate thing is they didn't have a
platform pre-existing to put all the stuff
onto.
That is where they need to get onto right
now, building a platform fully capable of
hybrid technology to be the crossover
bridge in full terms, the bridge between
(14:01):
internal combustion engine and electric
power sources.
They need that hybrid.
That is the key to getting Nissan onto a
stable ground.
After that, they need to utilize less
platforms across a global frontier.
See, Toyota is big enough that they could
support two midsize pickup trucks across
the globe.
They have the Hilux for specific markets
(14:23):
and the Tacoma for the American marketplace.
Nissan, on the other hand, has the Navara
in the frontier.
What they need to do is blend the two
together, similar to how Ford did it with
the brand new Ranger platform.
The previous generation had an Americanized
version of a European design, but the new
Ranger is developed for a global economy
(14:44):
and Nissan needs to do that.
But how Nissan can do that is utilize
manufacturing plants in North America and
in Asian countries and get help from
someone else.
Volkswagen really wants to enter the North
American midsize truck Because, you get to
think about it, the Amarok is everywhere
else in the world except North America.
(15:04):
Volkswagen wants to compete directly with
Toyota, so they need a pickup truck on a
global scale.
Nissan, a few years back, got in bed with a
few other people and hell, even today
they're in bed with a bunch of other
different car companies, especially in
China.
Now they can help out, not just the Chinese,
but by working together with Volkswagen,
pulling them out of their agreement that
(15:25):
Volkswagen now has with Ford, because
Volkswagen and Ford have an agreement for
working on vehicles.
Now Volkswagen is allowed to use the Ranger
platform for a European midsize truck, but
Ford forbids them from utilizing the Ranger
for a North American pickup.
But Volkswagen is allowed to build vans to
be marketed as Fords in North America.
(15:48):
So there's all this big fuck up not an
alliance but a partnership with Volkswagen
utilizing Volkswagen vans for the North
American marketplace and by Volkswagen
being able to utilize Nissan platforms,
both companies can enter the marketplaces.
Now Volkswagen is already doing the truck
and SUV with the Scout range.
(16:10):
Nissan getting their feet wet with the
Scout brand can have a battery, electric
version and utilizing their Frontier
production to help the Amarok enter the
North American marketplace can really
benefit both companies and with the Amarok
now being built on a global scale, they can
now build a global platform with it in
collaboration with a partner, Nissan, to
(16:33):
bring the Navara Frontier pickup truck to a
singular platform which then can be used
for a global entry into the utility range,
now being taken over by the Bronco, which
the Wrangler originally started, but the
Bronco is now moving in.
Nissan stated the fact they want to bring
the Xterra back to go up against the Bronco
and the Wrangler, now building a global
(16:55):
platform that utilizes both Nissan and
Volkswagen products for midsize trucks and
now midsize SUVs.
The Xterra can utilize that to build itself
a brand new platform to go right up against
the Bronco, which the Bronco uses the
Ranger platform.
See how things are starting to work out.
We're now utilizing less platforms and
(17:16):
building more products off of it.
So we have these plants all over the world.
We have the plant that builds Navarra.
We have a plant that builds the Frontier.
We get it onto a singular platform.
We could build Amarok's.
Amarok's have their own plant for the
European marketplace, but now Amarok's will
be built alongside the Navarra's and and
the Frontiers and be available in those
marketplaces, while Nissan can utilize
(17:38):
their products and product lines to build
full-size vans.
See, the commercial market is one of the
biggest things that the Japanese have not
cracked in North America.
Even in Mexico they still haven't cracked
that marketplace.
Nissan had a good thing going with their NV
vans, with their compact vans being built
in collaboration with Chevrolet, but their
(18:00):
full-size vans being built off the same
platform as the Nissan Titan, now that the
Titan is slowly faltering out.
But Nissan doesn't want to give up on it.
They know the full-size market is great and
they could still utilize the platform to
build both Nissan and Infiniti products,
the QX60s and the Pathfinder Armadas or now,
as they're called, just the Armadas and the
(18:22):
Patrols other places in the world, but
utilizing that body-on-frame platform
ladder frame for the Nissan Titan.
They can utilize it for the NV vans around
the world Now.
NV vans right now are built in
collaboration with Renault vans, but
Renault vans aren't built for the North
American consumption.
That's why Nissan built the NV vans for
(18:44):
North America off the Titan platform.
But there wasn't a big enough market to
just build them for Mexico, Canada and the
United States.
They need global scale.
While utilizing that Titan platform, build
it in collaboration with the same ladder
frame that Volkswagen and MAN use for their
vans.
(19:04):
Volkswagen can get a new partner for their
vans other than MAN, so you can have
Volkswagen, nissan and MAN all built with
the same platform for their commercial vans
to be on a global scale.
Volkswagen gets help with the Amarok,
Nissan gets help with their Titan.
Nissan gets new NV vans and to boost
production levels off the Titan platform,
(19:25):
they can get into bed with two companies
that have wanted to get into the full-size
pickup truck market Honda and Hyundai.
Now Hyundai just recently got into bed with
General Motors trying to build a full-size
pickup truck for select markets.
Now GM has stated the fact they don't want
them in the North America marketplace.
They want to help build a full size pickup
truck for Asian marketplaces and Australia,
not North America, but with Nissan having a
(19:47):
plant in America.
If Hyundai got into bed with them or Honda
got in bed with them one of the two H's
they can utilize production from that
platform to help them get into the
full-size pickup market.
You have to remember Honda's very first SUV.
The passport was built in collaboration
with Isuzu.
Hell, they even built another passport of a
(20:08):
land rover discovery platform.
Honda has built a sedan for triumph, so so
why not get into bed with Nissan?
They're a company that has major issues
right now and is trying to get more money
out of their current production.
Now, everybody all thought that Nissan was
going to get bought out by Honda, but that
deal fell through.
The deal fell through essentially because
(20:31):
of Infiniti.
So Infiniti is really the key here for
Nissan to rebuild Nissan back up utilizing
their Infiniti nameplate, which is known in
the Middle Eastern countries and in North
America as a premium brand.
Now Infiniti, using production facilities
that they have at their disposal that enter
(20:51):
into Middle Eastern markets, can also enter
into African marketplaces, and we all know
Africa is one of the last frontiers of the
automotive industry, as we talked about in
a previous podcast.
Go back and let's do it after this one.
It's pretty good.
Africa is an amazing continent that has so
much potential for the automobile industry
Just waiting to be untapped.
Nissan can utilize their production
(21:12):
facilities for the African marketplace to
help build not only Nissan but Infiniti
products for that marketplace.
Same with South America.
You have to start thinking outside the box.
See, Nissan wants to go after all the
biggest markets in the world.
Well, Peugeot and Citroën and even Renault
exist on a global scale today because they
(21:33):
entered Middle Eastern and African
marketplaces when the American big three
and the Japanese big five weren't willing
to go there.
They got into these little markets that
weren't really growing, but the second that
everyone else those American and Japanese
counterparts realized that you could build
in these countries for dirt cheap.
They wanted to get in there, but these
(21:54):
French auto manufacturers were already
there, already owned the market, already
had loyal customers.
Nissan needs to replicate that.
South America, especially Brazil and even
Colombia, are growing marketplaces, not
growing as fast as you think, but they're
still growing marketplaces.
Nissan pushing themselves further into
(22:16):
South America and to African nations like
Kenya, Nigeria, the Congo, South Africa and
Morocco.
They can help push themselves out into the
growth areas of third world nations.
This is where we go back to the very
beginning of how we save this company.
Entry-level products okay, entry-level.
(22:37):
We bring Datsun back as an entry brand, not
full-scale.
Let me rephrase that Entry-level sub brands,
brands okay, we need Datsun to help build
us up, like I said, an expansion of the
pole star.
Way back I think that was season two or
season three Volvo's kind of going in
pretty rough but also pretty smart by
(22:59):
utilizing the pole star nameplate now
building the pole star nameplate.
If the electric market collapses upon
itself, you don't bring Volvo down with it,
you just shutter one division and move on.
But you can also create sub-brands within
it.
Volkswagen's id or Audi's e-Tron.
You can have the Nissan Datsun sunny, the
Nissan Datsun bluebird, the Nissan Datsun
(23:21):
go.
You know the Chinese marketplace does this
all the time.
Dongfeng Fengon, the GAC Trumpchi you
know know.
Geely Galaxy they do sub-branded names
right into the main nameplate, not like
North America, like we get a few of them
here, but not as many the GMC Yukon Denali
See the sub-brand's at the end.
Or the GMC Hummer EV that's one of the only
(23:44):
ones we have on our side of the pond Now
utilizing that Datsun nameplate in these
marketplaces, you the pond.
Now.
Utilizing that Datsun nameplate in these
marketplaces, you could build entry-level
cars.
Now we get it.
There's not a lot of money to be made off
entry-level economy cars, but if you build
them in mass quantities for a market that
could sustain it, you can utilize that
money back into your corporation to help
(24:05):
build better quality, because once you get
better quality you get loyal consumers and
that's a problem Nissan has actually had in
the past 20 years.
In the past 20 years Nissan has going, gone
from being one of the growth Japanese
brands.
In the 90s, you know, next to Toyota, you
bought a Nissan.
You know Mazda and even Mitsubishi and even
(24:27):
Suzuki.
Well, you get in on those companies and
then you move up to a Honda, Nissan or
Toyota.
Nowadays you get in on a Mitsubishi or a
Nissan and you move up to the Toyota and
Honda Because you know we don't have Suzuki
and Isuzu in North America anymore.
We got Mazda but Mazda is the top tier.
Mazda has gone from entry level to say well,
(24:48):
fuck you, we're going right to the top,
we're premium.
Now we're competing with Buick.
But where does my stance on this economy to
quality come from?
It comes from a previous Podcast, Economy to
Quality.
It's all about the creation and growth of
Hyundai Motor Corporation, how they
essentially went from the pony to the
Genesis brand.
Ok, Nissan needs to replicate that.
(25:09):
The Koreans learn from the Japanese.
Remember the Japanese entered the North
American marketplace in the same stance the
Koreans did Cheaply, built economy vehicles,
built in mass quantities.
They were cheaper than North American
counterparts, so they undercut them, got a
whole brand new market on wheels and into
their showrooms and with that they funneled
(25:30):
the money back into the corporation to help
build better quality to keep those loyal
customers coming back to their showrooms
and eventually started adding top-tier
vehicles.
But by the 90s and early 2000s all of this
disappeared.
The rise of the crossover utility
marketplaces really destroyed this
entry-level feel.
And Nissan, considering the fact that they
(25:51):
still have the Sentra and the Kicks
floating around off a singular platform,
they can use that to help build them up.
You have your Sentra sedan, your Versa
hatchback, your Kicks SUV and then, if you
really want to get crazy, you could throw
in a 200SX sports coupe for the economy
world.
(26:11):
Even though there's not a lot of coupes in
the marketplace and this is a dying segment,
a 200SX could bring a new generation who's
looking to buy entry-level vehicles but
can't afford it into the market.
You have to remember, in North America it's
getting too expensive to purchase your
first home.
It's getting too expensive to purchase your
first home.
But if we could crack the market of
(26:31):
entry-level economy sports cars yet again,
like we did in the 80s and 90s, we can nab
this market with fun.
You're young and you got disposable income.
You can't put it down on buying a house
because you can't get enough money to put
that deposit down money to put that deposit
down.
But you can get enough money to put a
(26:52):
deposit down on an entry level economy
sports car built up the exact same platform
as your entry level sedan and crossover
utility vehicle.
Nissan can use this to their benefit.
You won't make tons of money off these
vehicles, that's the problem.
So you have to build them in mass
quantities across a massive amount of
different platforms.
We're talking sedan, station wagon,
hatchback, CUV, crossover, sports, coupe,
(27:14):
sports car, active lifestyle vehicle, and
then it has to be able to be utilized with
both gasoline, hybrid and battery electric
vehicles.
That's a big thing for a market that's
really small in profit margins.
Well, you're hoping that all of these
people eventually stick with you until they
can afford to buy the Titan at the other
(27:35):
end.
That is how Toyota got so big.
They nabbed you with the Corolla and, well,
back in the day, the Tercel coupes, the
Corolla GTSs, those fun, cheap cars that
got you in.
They were built on a quality scale which
kept you in line as a loyal customer when
you moved up to that Camry, to that Sienna,
(27:57):
and when you got older and your kids were
old enough, you could afford to get the
vehicle you really want.
You bought the Armada, you bought that
Titan, you bought that GTR and you dumped
tons of money back into the corporation.
That is what Nissan needs to do.
They need to build loyal customers from the
(28:17):
ground up.
Datsun in India is essentially the way that
they should have gone and they should have
expanded it outside of the Indian borders.
They could have built loyal customers at an
early stage, when the market was about to
lose that.
And when you get loyal customers, then they
want to buy your premium products from
(28:37):
infinity and with that you can keep them in
for longer and make more profit off of it,
because it is harder to get a new customer
than it is to keep a customer.
You learn this your first week in business.
And what you also learn in business is that
one customer who has a good experience with
(28:58):
a vehicle will only tell three friends, but
a person who has a bad experience will tell
nine friends.
So what does that mean?
For the past 25 years, Nissan has held on
average, five out of the top 10 buyer's
remorse vehicles, which means people bought
them and would never go back to them.
(29:18):
I have an aunt and uncle that bought a
Rogue and refused to drive a Nissan.
I have a co-worker who bought a Murano who
refuses to buy a Nissan.
One of them bought a Toyota, one of them
bought a Volkswagen.
They went to the competition because of the
cheap quality of Nissan products.
Renault was building it into their vehicles
as they stretched Nissan so thin that they
(29:40):
brought them to the end.
Nissan has collapsed but they can rebuild
themselves off of product knowledge they
already have.
They know economy and entry-level better
than most of the other Japanese
counterparts.
They have the market share in their home
market and in the American market to bring
themselves back, but only if they strike
(30:02):
now with the right product.
Entry-level, economy vehicles that are both
gasoline and hybrid compatible will bring
in entry-level consumers, and when those
entry-level consumers have good dealings,
they'll tell their friends, they'll tell
their family and then, if you get the
family hooked, they'll buy the Infinities
(30:23):
of the same quality, they'll buy the Titans
of the same quality.
Partnering up with someone like Volkswagen
BYD, Geely or even Honda can help expand
your markets.
On top of this, Nissan has so many keys to
play with.
Laying off 30 000 people and shuttering
seven major manufacturing plants, one of
the oldest plants in the entire lineup in
(30:45):
Japan, and their oldest north American
plant in Mexico is step one.
Trim the fat, get the cost down and
reinvest.
But you see, Nissan's next play is to
reinvest into the proper market that will
yield the most returns.
And if they do, like Chrysler corporation
attempted to do with Cerberus and with fiat,
(31:07):
they stupidly went after the high-end
markets and completely voided themselves of
entry-level loyalist consumers.
Because when they pulled the plug on the
dart and the caliber, that was like kissing
all your entry-level consumers.
Goodbye.
Sure people down the road who want to buy
Durango with tons of power, but they didn't
(31:27):
earn, you didn't earn their trust at a
younger age.
Hell, I want a Durango RT when I bought my
Tacoma, but spending the same amount over
forty thousand dollars on a Durango RT with
the same, with a little bit higher
kilometers than my Tacoma.
I couldn't fathom that, and the reason why
is because dodge has not built my trust up.
Had I have gone from a Neon into a Stratus,
(31:49):
into an Intrepid or a Caravan or a Journey
and been shown that these vehicles are
dependable and good, I would have plunked
down the money and got myself a Durango RT
instead of my Tacoma.
But I trust that that Tacoma is built right
and I also trust the fact that that Corolla
at the bottom end is built just as good.
(32:10):
Nissan needs that trust back.
Quality is their key and quality economy
with versatility is what Nissan needs to
bring themselves from the brink of
extinction.
So really, in the end, you can dump as many
products onto the market as you want.
They can enter the active lifestyle vehicle
market.
As many products onto the market as you
(32:30):
want.
They can enter the active lifestyle vehicle
market.
They can enter so many different trekking
markets full-size pickup trucks, vans,
mid-size, do as much as you want.
But unless that market yields tons of money
that could be reinvested back into anything
else, if you piss off those customers once,
they're not coming back, and this is
something that Chrysler Corporation is
realizing right now.
They're holding coming back and this is
(32:50):
something that Chrysler Corporation is
realizing right now.
They're holding on to the vehicles that
have been around the longest.
They have the loyalist, the most loyal
followers of them, just so they can hold on
to that one last shred of consumer
confidence in their brand, because if they
lose it, they have to start from scratch,
which means they're starting out like tesla
(33:10):
back in 2003.
Yes, Nissan can come back from the brink of
extinction, but only if they play their
cards right, and entry-level, quality
vehicles that are versatile between
internal combustion and hybrid are the way
to go.
Nissan needs to put this in place and,
after they've trimmed the fat of all the
(33:30):
employees that are about to be let go and
all the manufacturing plants that are about
to be let go, they need to pull themselves
around, hold on to the leases of those
plants, reorganize and build a brand new
product range in the next 18 months.
That's going to save this company for years
to come, and I'm telling you, the Sentra
Kicks is the one that's going to save this
company for years to come, and I'm telling
(33:51):
you, the Sentra, Kicks is the one that's
going to kick it for them.
So if you like this podcast, please like,
share, comment about it on any of the major
social feeds or streaming sites that you
found the AutoLooks podcast on, like, share,
comment.
You know, tell your friends, tell your
family, tell your co-workers, everyone else
about this, the AutoLooks podcast, and send
them off.
Tell them it's on every major streaming
site, from Spotify to Audible to iTunes and,
(34:14):
well, our host one, podbean.com.
We are there on every major streaming site,
over 50 of them globally.
And to all my fans out there from countries
like Portugal, Japan, India, Finland,
Germany, you guys are really kicking it up
for me Brazil, Mexico, my friends across
the border in America and, in my home
(34:35):
country, my fellow Canadians like us,
follow us and share us with all your
friends.
Click the button at the bottom and tell
everybody else.
The AutoLooks Podcast is where it's at.
The AutoLooks Podcast is brought to you by
Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by
Podbean.com.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email@autolooks.net
So after you click the like, after you
(34:55):
click the follow and all that, stop by the
website.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
the ratings.
Go to the corporate links website page.
Big or small, we have them all car
companies from around the globe, all
available on one select location, that is,
the AutoLooks.net corporate links tab at the
top of the page.
So for myself, Everett Jay, the Ecomm
Entertainment Group, Podbean.com and the
AutoLooks.net website, strap yourself in for
(35:16):
this one fun wild ride that Nissan is going
to take us on.
Thank you.
I saw them when I was a child.
My dad owned a bunch of them, old school
Datsun trucks.
Yeah, it was North America, these things
were around.
It was the 80s still, and Datsun had yet
become Nissan once again.
These pickup trucks were a part of my
childhood and cruising around in the box of
them because you know, that was loud back
then unlike now, and even when my dad had
(00:22):
the King Cab one one going out to camp and
watching my dog run back and forth in the
back of the vehicle.
It was great times.
There's great memories and those things
were a part of my childhood and I think
back to all the different vehicles.
My parents owned that old Dastun king cab.
That was a pretty cool truck.
It stayed up.
It did my dad good, got him back and forth
to work, helped him build a house and even
(00:43):
got him through some rough times when he
had to turn around and sell it off because
it was getting too much to repair.
It was kind of a hard thing and at my young
age you know, being around seven or eight
years old at the time I got my first camera
and one of the first pictures I ever took
in my life was of my old Datsun king cab
that my dad had Painted in dark navy blue
(01:05):
trim-clad navy blue, to be exact, done with
a hand brush.
That truck brought back some great memories
and seeing trucks like that on the road
today, I wondered to myself what could have
been.
Nissan was a great company.
At one point in time they were one of the
top-tier manufacturers, going after the
North American marketplace.
They were fighting it out with Toyota and
(01:25):
keeping Honda, Mitsubishi and even Suzuki
at bay.
Nissan was it?
They were the number two Japanese automaker.
So what happened to them and why is it now?
We have to figure a way out to save them.
Well, today AutoLooks is going to take a look
at Nissan and how we could save them from
disappearing once again, just like their
previous nameplate, the Datsun nameplate.
(01:55):
Welcome back to the AutoLooks Podcast.
I'm your host, as always the doctor to the
automotive industry, Mr. Everett Jay, coming
to you from our host website at AutoLooks.net.
If you haven't been there, stop by check it.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
the ratings.
Go to the Corporate Links website page.
Big or small, we have them all Car
companies from around the globe, all
available in one direct location that is
autolooks.net.
(02:17):
The AutoLooks Podcast is brought to you by
Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by
PodBean.com.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email@autolooks.net.
If you wonder why I sound a little weird on
this one, I'm kind of stuffed up.
It's been a day I should say an afternoon
with a bunch of dogs and a dusty house.
My nose is just going weird.
Just another thing to take it all in.
But I promise you I won't be snorting and
snarling and sneezing in this podcast,
(02:40):
unless you really want to hear that.
It's kind of weird.
I don't do those podcasts.
So, like I said in the beginning of this
podcast, how can we save Nissan?
What is really wrong with Nissan and where
did it go wrong?
Well, let's just say Nissan did the same
thing as Chrysler at the end of the 90s to
expand their horizons, they decided to get
(03:01):
in bed with another auto manufacturer, one
that wanted to expand its horizons outside
of the European marketplace.
Yes, Renault and Nissan decided to get in
bed with each other.
Now, it wasn't a merger, it wasn't a
takeover, it was an alliance.
They were utilizing each other to better
build their brands.
(03:21):
But how do you do that?
How do you build two standard automotive
brands together without cannibalizing each
other's sales and, on top of that, owning
other divisions like Dacia, Mitsubishi and
Lada?
How does that not destroy?
How do you focus on every single global
market, trying to expand your brand, build
(03:44):
this amazing alliance up?
Well, you can't.
We all knew it was eventually going to fail.
We all figured Carlos Ghosn probably ripped
them off, probably did some bad shit behind
you know that dark curtain that he hid
behind Hell.
The man had to be smuggled out of Japan so
he wouldn't spend the rest of his life in
jail, just proving that there's something
(04:05):
shady going on in the background.
But this all came out of the limelight when
Diesel gate happened with Volkswagen.
After Diesel gate, every auto manufacturer
around the world was being scrutinized down
to their final periods, at the end of each
one of their sentences, in every document
they wrote, and Nissan being included.
(04:25):
Things started coming out and that rope
didn't have a good knot in it because it
started to unwind.
Yes, the rope of the
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance was
falling apart.
Mitsubishi had tried in an early day to
build electric cars with the i-Miev.
(04:45):
Didn't really take off, didn't really get
out there.
But Mitsubishi was looking at a future when
tesla was just starting out, Nissan decided
to utilize that technology for its own self
and built us the lee, the most butt ugly
looking car you could find on the road at
that point in time.
Why?
Well, the FIAT Multipla and the Pontiac
Aztec were now behind us and we needed
(05:08):
something new to give the worst design in
the world, and Nissan decided to do it with
the leaf.
They saw how Toyota gave the world the
Prius, and hybrid technology was great, but
Nissan wanted to one-up them and, and since
Mitsubishi didn't really take off with the
electric car with the i-Miev, they decided to
hey, let's go LL in on an electric car, not
(05:30):
a hybrid, full electric, plug-in sedan Well,
essentially, plug-in hatchback.
They gave us the leap.
It looked like it was the future.
It was the first economically viable
electric car on the market.
So how did we go from that to a complete
financial collapse of the corporation we
have today?
(05:51):
Well, along those lines, Renault, Nissan,
Dacia, Lada, Mitsubishi were all trying to
grow.
At this point in time, the war with Russia
hadn't started, so Lada was starting to
make inroads into Eastern European
countries.
Unfortunately for them, Renault was trying
to expand the Dacia brand within those
(06:14):
areas, because Renault knew from watching
Volkswagen and Skoda.
They need an entry-level product range and
Dacia was perfect for it.
It a small, little Romanian car company
that only built these cheap, reliable
little vehicles being manufactured so cheap
they could utilize them well.
Nissan took it upon themselves to enter the
Indian marketplace with its own entry-level
(06:36):
brand.
They saw that Indy was growing and they
decided to bring back the Datsun nameplate
for it.
Working off the knowledge from their
alliance partner Renault and Dacia, they
decided to give us the Datsun platform and
again gave birth to a new entry-level
vehicle.
Unfortunately, not making all of those
vehicles in India comes at a price, price
(06:59):
that puts your vehicle priced above
products from Tata, products from Mahindra,
products from Maruti Suzuki.
So your entry level is starting to look
more like standard products.
These were starting to fight it out with
Nissan products and with only little
hatchbacks, tall wagon crossovers and
(07:20):
cross-track vehicles, Datsun had really
nowhere to grow, unless they were going to
get into sedans, micro trucks or even small
key cars.
They had nowhere else to go.
The Indian marketplaces started to ban
crossover utility vehicles, like everywhere
else in the world, and instead Datsun gave
us a cross-track variation, the Datsun
(07:43):
Cross.
Okay, the Datsun Cross was kind of neat.
It was more of an enhanced version of the
Datsun Maidu or even the Datsun Go, but it
wasn't what we needed.
Sure, the year is 2019, but in 2019, the
Indian marketplace is going full in, like
the rest of the world, in crossover utility
vehicles.
You can't give us these little Datsun
vehicles.
The hatchback and crossover market is dying,
(08:05):
even in India.
So Nissan, by the 2020s, when COVID hit,
decided to shutter their brand.
With that, Nissan took a hit at entry level.
Now, they weren't fighting it out with
entry level products from Maruti Suzuki or
Tata in that marketplace.
They had to rely directly on Nissan
marketplace.
(08:25):
They had to rely directly on Nissan.
But unfortunately, with the fallout of
Carlos Ghosn and all these finances hitting
the ceiling, Renault wasn't going to let
Nissan take this market.
Datsun was supposed to be the alliance's
answer to Dacia in the Indian marketplace,
but instead, when Datsun failed, Renault
decided to utilize Datsun products to bring
Renault into the Indian marketplace,
(08:46):
fighting it out head to head with its own
alliance brother, Nissan.
They were literally fighting it out in one
of the biggest growing automotive markets
in the world and with that, Nissan was
taking a hit.
But on top of that, they were taking a hit
in Nissan's biggest market, their home
(09:07):
market of Japan.
With them being spread so thin across the
world and Renault being as big and powerful
as it was, owning so many manufacturing
plants and so many suppliers all over the
globe, Missan was starting to learn that
this alliance was more of a takeover on
Renault's part, and with that they decided
to start pulling themselves back from the
(09:30):
alliance Still part of it today, but
they've pulled themselves back.
Them Mitsubishi have pulled back.
Now it's more of a Renault-Dacia and
Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.
Lada has been completely pulled the plug on.
Now Lada is having an issue because of the
fact that they were starting to utilize
Dacia platforms and Nissan technology to
(09:50):
build brand new products for the Russian
marketplace.
But when you go to war, the rest of the
world cuts you off.
Well, sorry about your luck, but you're a
little fucked right there, and hence they
are right today.
So this fight in India was taking money and
resources away from the home market of
Japan.
Got to, remember?
Nissan and Toyota have been head to head
since the 1960s.
(10:11):
They've both been vying to be the top dog
in the Japanese marketplace.
Sure, Mazda's come up and tried to fight
them and Honda's come up and tried to fight
them.
And Suzuki's come up and tried to fight
them.
But Nissan and Toyota are like GM and Ford
they're constantly battling for supremacy
of their home market.
But while Nissan was fighting to take on
the rest of the world with Renault, they
(10:32):
forgot about their home market.
And they also forgot about the largest
export home market to them, china.
With a failed launch in China, Nissan
wasn't getting anywhere.
They had nobody to fall back on.
They had to go all alone in the Chinese
marketplace.
Why?
Because Renault is like that ex-boyfriend
(10:54):
or girlfriend who turns all your friends
against you when they leave the
relationship.
And that's exactly what happened.
Renault was taking everyone with them.
Sure, Mitsubishi wasn't going, because
Mitsubishi had the back of their Japanese
brother.
They were holding strong with Nissan and
building all of these products together.
(11:14):
Well, let's just say it was an amazing
thing, and today we're starting to see how
those two can go together.
Now Mitsubishi has gotten more into bed
with Renault, now to expand their global
presence, as Nissan has literally had the
rug ripped from underneath of it, finances
destroyed, market share destroyed.
Essentially, this alliance brought it to
(11:36):
its knee tons of plants everywhere, tons of
manufacturing, tons of design studios and
parts and platforms.
On top of it you got to remember Datsun had
its own platform.
Nissan has nearly an entirely different
platform.
Really, every market they're spread so thin
that when they started losing market share
(11:58):
in one, it's like an abdominal effect
bringing the whole corporation down.
So how do do we save them?
How do we save Nissan from disappearing?
Well, Chrysler Corporation is starting to
make its way back.
It's hit the bottom of the barrel and it
has nowhere to go but up.
Nissan hasn't hit the bottom of the barrel
Now.
If they hit the bottom of the barrel, they
(12:18):
would have lost tons of their market.
Getting into bed with electric vehicles and
having the entire market collapse on you
two years later with all this investment
made into it, is really hammering them
right now.
Unlike their biggest competitor, Toyota,
who decided to keep hybrid technology,
Nissan decided to get away from hybrids and
(12:39):
either go gas only or electric only, and
with that there was no in between.
One of the biggest ways right now Nissan
could save its hide and keep itself going
into the future is by having plug-in
hybrids or standard hybrid technology put
back into their vehicles E-power they used
to have.
(13:00):
They need to give back the hybrid that they
once had, adding hybrid technology back
into all their major platforms, making new
platforms that they're working on right now.
Be able to handle both battery, electric,
hybrid and fully gas operational products
together on one platform is where they need
(13:21):
to go, and when you have the ability to put
in a trunk combustion engine in it and a
battery pack, you have the ability to be
flexible for hydrogen in the future as well.
So with that, they could focus on all the
brand new power sources, and they already
have the groundwork for this built.
As they were building battery technology
for all these brand new vehicles, they were
(13:41):
learning how they could build this together
with an internal combustion engine.
The unfortunate thing is they didn't have a
platform pre-existing to put all the stuff
onto.
That is where they need to get onto right
now, building a platform fully capable of
hybrid technology to be the crossover
bridge in full terms, the bridge between
(14:01):
internal combustion engine and electric
power sources.
They need that hybrid.
That is the key to getting Nissan onto a
stable ground.
After that, they need to utilize less
platforms across a global frontier.
See, Toyota is big enough that they could
support two midsize pickup trucks across
the globe.
They have the Hilux for specific markets
(14:23):
and the Tacoma for the American marketplace.
Nissan, on the other hand, has the Navara
in the frontier.
What they need to do is blend the two
together, similar to how Ford did it with
the brand new Ranger platform.
The previous generation had an Americanized
version of a European design, but the new
Ranger is developed for a global economy
(14:44):
and Nissan needs to do that.
But how Nissan can do that is utilize
manufacturing plants in North America and
in Asian countries and get help from
someone else.
Volkswagen really wants to enter the North
American midsize truck Because, you get to
think about it, the Amarok is everywhere
else in the world except North America.
(15:04):
Volkswagen wants to compete directly with
Toyota, so they need a pickup truck on a
global scale.
Nissan, a few years back, got in bed with a
few other people and hell, even today
they're in bed with a bunch of other
different car companies, especially in
China.
Now they can help out, not just the Chinese,
but by working together with Volkswagen,
pulling them out of their agreement that
(15:25):
Volkswagen now has with Ford, because
Volkswagen and Ford have an agreement for
working on vehicles.
Now Volkswagen is allowed to use the Ranger
platform for a European midsize truck, but
Ford forbids them from utilizing the Ranger
for a North American pickup.
But Volkswagen is allowed to build vans to
be marketed as Fords in North America.
(15:48):
So there's all this big fuck up not an
alliance but a partnership with Volkswagen
utilizing Volkswagen vans for the North
American marketplace and by Volkswagen
being able to utilize Nissan platforms,
both companies can enter the marketplaces.
Now Volkswagen is already doing the truck
and SUV with the Scout range.
(16:10):
Nissan getting their feet wet with the
Scout brand can have a battery, electric
version and utilizing their Frontier
production to help the Amarok enter the
North American marketplace can really
benefit both companies and with the Amarok
now being built on a global scale, they can
now build a global platform with it in
collaboration with a partner, Nissan, to
(16:33):
bring the Navara Frontier pickup truck to a
singular platform which then can be used
for a global entry into the utility range,
now being taken over by the Bronco, which
the Wrangler originally started, but the
Bronco is now moving in.
Nissan stated the fact they want to bring
the Xterra back to go up against the Bronco
and the Wrangler, now building a global
(16:55):
platform that utilizes both Nissan and
Volkswagen products for midsize trucks and
now midsize SUVs.
The Xterra can utilize that to build itself
a brand new platform to go right up against
the Bronco, which the Bronco uses the
Ranger platform.
See how things are starting to work out.
We're now utilizing less platforms and
(17:16):
building more products off of it.
So we have these plants all over the world.
We have the plant that builds Navarra.
We have a plant that builds the Frontier.
We get it onto a singular platform.
We could build Amarok's.
Amarok's have their own plant for the
European marketplace, but now Amarok's will
be built alongside the Navarra's and and
the Frontiers and be available in those
marketplaces, while Nissan can utilize
(17:38):
their products and product lines to build
full-size vans.
See, the commercial market is one of the
biggest things that the Japanese have not
cracked in North America.
Even in Mexico they still haven't cracked
that marketplace.
Nissan had a good thing going with their NV
vans, with their compact vans being built
in collaboration with Chevrolet, but their
(18:00):
full-size vans being built off the same
platform as the Nissan Titan, now that the
Titan is slowly faltering out.
But Nissan doesn't want to give up on it.
They know the full-size market is great and
they could still utilize the platform to
build both Nissan and Infiniti products,
the QX60s and the Pathfinder Armadas or now,
as they're called, just the Armadas and the
(18:22):
Patrols other places in the world, but
utilizing that body-on-frame platform
ladder frame for the Nissan Titan.
They can utilize it for the NV vans around
the world Now.
NV vans right now are built in
collaboration with Renault vans, but
Renault vans aren't built for the North
American consumption.
That's why Nissan built the NV vans for
(18:44):
North America off the Titan platform.
But there wasn't a big enough market to
just build them for Mexico, Canada and the
United States.
They need global scale.
While utilizing that Titan platform, build
it in collaboration with the same ladder
frame that Volkswagen and MAN use for their
vans.
(19:04):
Volkswagen can get a new partner for their
vans other than MAN, so you can have
Volkswagen, nissan and MAN all built with
the same platform for their commercial vans
to be on a global scale.
Volkswagen gets help with the Amarok,
Nissan gets help with their Titan.
Nissan gets new NV vans and to boost
production levels off the Titan platform,
(19:25):
they can get into bed with two companies
that have wanted to get into the full-size
pickup truck market Honda and Hyundai.
Now Hyundai just recently got into bed with
General Motors trying to build a full-size
pickup truck for select markets.
Now GM has stated the fact they don't want
them in the North America marketplace.
They want to help build a full size pickup
truck for Asian marketplaces and Australia,
not North America, but with Nissan having a
(19:47):
plant in America.
If Hyundai got into bed with them or Honda
got in bed with them one of the two H's
they can utilize production from that
platform to help them get into the
full-size pickup market.
You have to remember Honda's very first SUV.
The passport was built in collaboration
with Isuzu.
Hell, they even built another passport of a
(20:08):
land rover discovery platform.
Honda has built a sedan for triumph, so so
why not get into bed with Nissan?
They're a company that has major issues
right now and is trying to get more money
out of their current production.
Now, everybody all thought that Nissan was
going to get bought out by Honda, but that
deal fell through.
The deal fell through essentially because
(20:31):
of Infiniti.
So Infiniti is really the key here for
Nissan to rebuild Nissan back up utilizing
their Infiniti nameplate, which is known in
the Middle Eastern countries and in North
America as a premium brand.
Now Infiniti, using production facilities
that they have at their disposal that enter
(20:51):
into Middle Eastern markets, can also enter
into African marketplaces, and we all know
Africa is one of the last frontiers of the
automotive industry, as we talked about in
a previous podcast.
Go back and let's do it after this one.
It's pretty good.
Africa is an amazing continent that has so
much potential for the automobile industry
Just waiting to be untapped.
Nissan can utilize their production
(21:12):
facilities for the African marketplace to
help build not only Nissan but Infiniti
products for that marketplace.
Same with South America.
You have to start thinking outside the box.
See, Nissan wants to go after all the
biggest markets in the world.
Well, Peugeot and Citroën and even Renault
exist on a global scale today because they
(21:33):
entered Middle Eastern and African
marketplaces when the American big three
and the Japanese big five weren't willing
to go there.
They got into these little markets that
weren't really growing, but the second that
everyone else those American and Japanese
counterparts realized that you could build
in these countries for dirt cheap.
They wanted to get in there, but these
(21:54):
French auto manufacturers were already
there, already owned the market, already
had loyal customers.
Nissan needs to replicate that.
South America, especially Brazil and even
Colombia, are growing marketplaces, not
growing as fast as you think, but they're
still growing marketplaces.
Nissan pushing themselves further into
(22:16):
South America and to African nations like
Kenya, Nigeria, the Congo, South Africa and
Morocco.
They can help push themselves out into the
growth areas of third world nations.
This is where we go back to the very
beginning of how we save this company.
Entry-level products okay, entry-level.
(22:37):
We bring Datsun back as an entry brand, not
full-scale.
Let me rephrase that Entry-level sub brands,
brands okay, we need Datsun to help build
us up, like I said, an expansion of the
pole star.
Way back I think that was season two or
season three Volvo's kind of going in
pretty rough but also pretty smart by
(22:59):
utilizing the pole star nameplate now
building the pole star nameplate.
If the electric market collapses upon
itself, you don't bring Volvo down with it,
you just shutter one division and move on.
But you can also create sub-brands within
it.
Volkswagen's id or Audi's e-Tron.
You can have the Nissan Datsun sunny, the
Nissan Datsun bluebird, the Nissan Datsun
(23:21):
go.
You know the Chinese marketplace does this
all the time.
Dongfeng Fengon, the GAC Trumpchi you
know know.
Geely Galaxy they do sub-branded names
right into the main nameplate, not like
North America, like we get a few of them
here, but not as many the GMC Yukon Denali
See the sub-brand's at the end.
Or the GMC Hummer EV that's one of the only
(23:44):
ones we have on our side of the pond Now
utilizing that Datsun nameplate in these
marketplaces, you the pond.
Now.
Utilizing that Datsun nameplate in these
marketplaces, you could build entry-level
cars.
Now we get it.
There's not a lot of money to be made off
entry-level economy cars, but if you build
them in mass quantities for a market that
could sustain it, you can utilize that
money back into your corporation to help
(24:05):
build better quality, because once you get
better quality you get loyal consumers and
that's a problem Nissan has actually had in
the past 20 years.
In the past 20 years Nissan has going, gone
from being one of the growth Japanese
brands.
In the 90s, you know, next to Toyota, you
bought a Nissan.
You know Mazda and even Mitsubishi and even
(24:27):
Suzuki.
Well, you get in on those companies and
then you move up to a Honda, Nissan or
Toyota.
Nowadays you get in on a Mitsubishi or a
Nissan and you move up to the Toyota and
Honda Because you know we don't have Suzuki
and Isuzu in North America anymore.
We got Mazda but Mazda is the top tier.
Mazda has gone from entry level to say well,
(24:48):
fuck you, we're going right to the top,
we're premium.
Now we're competing with Buick.
But where does my stance on this economy to
quality come from?
It comes from a previous Podcast, Economy to
Quality.
It's all about the creation and growth of
Hyundai Motor Corporation, how they
essentially went from the pony to the
Genesis brand.
Ok, Nissan needs to replicate that.
(25:09):
The Koreans learn from the Japanese.
Remember the Japanese entered the North
American marketplace in the same stance the
Koreans did Cheaply, built economy vehicles,
built in mass quantities.
They were cheaper than North American
counterparts, so they undercut them, got a
whole brand new market on wheels and into
their showrooms and with that they funneled
(25:30):
the money back into the corporation to help
build better quality to keep those loyal
customers coming back to their showrooms
and eventually started adding top-tier
vehicles.
But by the 90s and early 2000s all of this
disappeared.
The rise of the crossover utility
marketplaces really destroyed this
entry-level feel.
And Nissan, considering the fact that they
(25:51):
still have the Sentra and the Kicks
floating around off a singular platform,
they can use that to help build them up.
You have your Sentra sedan, your Versa
hatchback, your Kicks SUV and then, if you
really want to get crazy, you could throw
in a 200SX sports coupe for the economy
world.
(26:11):
Even though there's not a lot of coupes in
the marketplace and this is a dying segment,
a 200SX could bring a new generation who's
looking to buy entry-level vehicles but
can't afford it into the market.
You have to remember, in North America it's
getting too expensive to purchase your
first home.
It's getting too expensive to purchase your
first home.
But if we could crack the market of
(26:31):
entry-level economy sports cars yet again,
like we did in the 80s and 90s, we can nab
this market with fun.
You're young and you got disposable income.
You can't put it down on buying a house
because you can't get enough money to put
that deposit down money to put that deposit
down.
But you can get enough money to put a
(26:52):
deposit down on an entry level economy
sports car built up the exact same platform
as your entry level sedan and crossover
utility vehicle.
Nissan can use this to their benefit.
You won't make tons of money off these
vehicles, that's the problem.
So you have to build them in mass
quantities across a massive amount of
different platforms.
We're talking sedan, station wagon,
hatchback, CUV, crossover, sports, coupe,
(27:14):
sports car, active lifestyle vehicle, and
then it has to be able to be utilized with
both gasoline, hybrid and battery electric
vehicles.
That's a big thing for a market that's
really small in profit margins.
Well, you're hoping that all of these
people eventually stick with you until they
can afford to buy the Titan at the other
(27:35):
end.
That is how Toyota got so big.
They nabbed you with the Corolla and, well,
back in the day, the Tercel coupes, the
Corolla GTSs, those fun, cheap cars that
got you in.
They were built on a quality scale which
kept you in line as a loyal customer when
you moved up to that Camry, to that Sienna,
(27:57):
and when you got older and your kids were
old enough, you could afford to get the
vehicle you really want.
You bought the Armada, you bought that
Titan, you bought that GTR and you dumped
tons of money back into the corporation.
That is what Nissan needs to do.
They need to build loyal customers from the
(28:17):
ground up.
Datsun in India is essentially the way that
they should have gone and they should have
expanded it outside of the Indian borders.
They could have built loyal customers at an
early stage, when the market was about to
lose that.
And when you get loyal customers, then they
want to buy your premium products from
(28:37):
infinity and with that you can keep them in
for longer and make more profit off of it,
because it is harder to get a new customer
than it is to keep a customer.
You learn this your first week in business.
And what you also learn in business is that
one customer who has a good experience with
(28:58):
a vehicle will only tell three friends, but
a person who has a bad experience will tell
nine friends.
So what does that mean?
For the past 25 years, Nissan has held on
average, five out of the top 10 buyer's
remorse vehicles, which means people bought
them and would never go back to them.
(29:18):
I have an aunt and uncle that bought a
Rogue and refused to drive a Nissan.
I have a co-worker who bought a Murano who
refuses to buy a Nissan.
One of them bought a Toyota, one of them
bought a Volkswagen.
They went to the competition because of the
cheap quality of Nissan products.
Renault was building it into their vehicles
as they stretched Nissan so thin that they
(29:40):
brought them to the end.
Nissan has collapsed but they can rebuild
themselves off of product knowledge they
already have.
They know economy and entry-level better
than most of the other Japanese
counterparts.
They have the market share in their home
market and in the American market to bring
themselves back, but only if they strike
(30:02):
now with the right product.
Entry-level, economy vehicles that are both
gasoline and hybrid compatible will bring
in entry-level consumers, and when those
entry-level consumers have good dealings,
they'll tell their friends, they'll tell
their family and then, if you get the
family hooked, they'll buy the Infinities
(30:23):
of the same quality, they'll buy the Titans
of the same quality.
Partnering up with someone like Volkswagen
BYD, Geely or even Honda can help expand
your markets.
On top of this, Nissan has so many keys to
play with.
Laying off 30 000 people and shuttering
seven major manufacturing plants, one of
the oldest plants in the entire lineup in
(30:45):
Japan, and their oldest north American
plant in Mexico is step one.
Trim the fat, get the cost down and
reinvest.
But you see, Nissan's next play is to
reinvest into the proper market that will
yield the most returns.
And if they do, like Chrysler corporation
attempted to do with Cerberus and with fiat,
(31:07):
they stupidly went after the high-end
markets and completely voided themselves of
entry-level loyalist consumers.
Because when they pulled the plug on the
dart and the caliber, that was like kissing
all your entry-level consumers.
Goodbye.
Sure people down the road who want to buy
Durango with tons of power, but they didn't
(31:27):
earn, you didn't earn their trust at a
younger age.
Hell, I want a Durango RT when I bought my
Tacoma, but spending the same amount over
forty thousand dollars on a Durango RT with
the same, with a little bit higher
kilometers than my Tacoma.
I couldn't fathom that, and the reason why
is because dodge has not built my trust up.
Had I have gone from a Neon into a Stratus,
(31:49):
into an Intrepid or a Caravan or a Journey
and been shown that these vehicles are
dependable and good, I would have plunked
down the money and got myself a Durango RT
instead of my Tacoma.
But I trust that that Tacoma is built right
and I also trust the fact that that Corolla
at the bottom end is built just as good.
(32:10):
Nissan needs that trust back.
Quality is their key and quality economy
with versatility is what Nissan needs to
bring themselves from the brink of
extinction.
So really, in the end, you can dump as many
products onto the market as you want.
They can enter the active lifestyle vehicle
market.
As many products onto the market as you
(32:30):
want.
They can enter the active lifestyle vehicle
market.
They can enter so many different trekking
markets full-size pickup trucks, vans,
mid-size, do as much as you want.
But unless that market yields tons of money
that could be reinvested back into anything
else, if you piss off those customers once,
they're not coming back, and this is
something that Chrysler Corporation is
realizing right now.
They're holding coming back and this is
(32:50):
something that Chrysler Corporation is
realizing right now.
They're holding on to the vehicles that
have been around the longest.
They have the loyalist, the most loyal
followers of them, just so they can hold on
to that one last shred of consumer
confidence in their brand, because if they
lose it, they have to start from scratch,
which means they're starting out like tesla
(33:10):
back in 2003.
Yes, Nissan can come back from the brink of
extinction, but only if they play their
cards right, and entry-level, quality
vehicles that are versatile between
internal combustion and hybrid are the way
to go.
Nissan needs to put this in place and,
after they've trimmed the fat of all the
(33:30):
employees that are about to be let go and
all the manufacturing plants that are about
to be let go, they need to pull themselves
around, hold on to the leases of those
plants, reorganize and build a brand new
product range in the next 18 months.
That's going to save this company for years
to come, and I'm telling you, the Sentra
Kicks is the one that's going to save this
company for years to come, and I'm telling
(33:51):
you, the Sentra, Kicks is the one that's
going to kick it for them.
So if you like this podcast, please like,
share, comment about it on any of the major
social feeds or streaming sites that you
found the AutoLooks podcast on, like, share,
comment.
You know, tell your friends, tell your
family, tell your co-workers, everyone else
about this, the AutoLooks podcast, and send
them off.
Tell them it's on every major streaming
site, from Spotify to Audible to iTunes and,
(34:14):
well, our host one, podbean.com.
We are there on every major streaming site,
over 50 of them globally.
And to all my fans out there from countries
like Portugal, Japan, India, Finland,
Germany, you guys are really kicking it up
for me Brazil, Mexico, my friends across
the border in America and, in my home
(34:35):
country, my fellow Canadians like us,
follow us and share us with all your
friends.
Click the button at the bottom and tell
everybody else.
The AutoLooks Podcast is where it's at.
The AutoLooks Podcast is brought to you by
Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by
Podbean.com.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email@autolooks.net
So after you click the like, after you
(34:55):
click the follow and all that, stop by the
website.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
the ratings.
Go to the corporate links website page.
Big or small, we have them all car
companies from around the globe, all
available on one select location, that is,
the AutoLooks.net corporate links tab at the
top of the page.
So for myself, Everett Jay, the Ecomm
Entertainment Group, Podbean.com and the
AutoLooks.net website, strap yourself in for
(35:16):
this one fun wild ride that Nissan is going
to take us on.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com