Posted on 07/27/2019 9:43:24 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Some very bad news today – for Nissan.
Profits are down 99 percent. Not a typo. A near-total wipeout – which triggered the wiping out of 12,500 jobs, the immediate suspension of manufacturing in Indonesia and Spain and an announcement that Japan’s second-largest car company will reduce its model lineup by at least 10 percent by 2022.
Nissan’s U.S. market share is down to 7.9 percent; it was 8.1 percent a year ago.
It is quite possible there won’t be a Nissan by 2022.
So, what’s gone awry?
One thing – a thing which is going awry generally – is the monecy being wasted on electric cars for which there is no market. Or rather, which there’s no money to be made from making.
Nissan’s Leaf – the company’s first electric car – cost Nissan almost as much money to develop as it continues to lose “selling” it. And when the federal subsidy for electric car “purchases” goes away, it will cost Nissan – and everyone else “selling” electric cars – even more as people decline to “buy” them at all.
Which will happen, because the ending of the subsidies amounts to a $7,500 effective increase in the cost to the buyer – the price of “green,” as it were.
Nissan, et al, will then have to resort to discounts of their own equivalent to the federal subsidy, just to get the electric turduckens off their lots.
This would be no big deal if it were only a handful of electric Turduckens. But because “climate change,” Nissan and everyone else has been forced to commit billions to development of hundreds of thousands of electric cars they won’t be able to sell – unless the ability of people to buy them somehow increases by 30-50 percent or more, this being the rough difference (all else being equal) between an electric car and an otherwise equivalent non-electric car.
Who’s going to ante up?
The going-away subsidy all by itself is equivalent in value to 3,125 gallons of regular unleaded at current prices (about $2.40 per gallon). That fills up a 12 gallon gas tank about 260 times – enough to take you 93,000 and change miles at 30 MPG.
However much people may believe the sky is about to fall because “climate change,” most aren’t going to walk away from what amounts to free fuel for nearly 100,000 miles of driving – by not driving an electric car.
The 12,500 jobs that just went up in smoke – along with Nissan’s profits and possibly Nissan itself – are just the beginning.
A real scheisse show is percolating.
But there is a silk lining to this sow’s ear – for the moment.
It is that you stand to score a deal on any Nissan (excepting the Leaf). The news about Nissan’s precarious finances is already spreading like an oil slick on the ocean and dealers will be increasingly desperate to offload what they can while they can.
And here’s the crazy thing:
Much of what Nissan sells is actually good stuff. In part, because it hasn’t got much of the new stuff – things like turbo fours in big trucks and direct injection and ASS in everything. Nissan is also the only car company whose new cars let you drive without “buckling up for saaaaaaaaaaaafety.”
Well, without badgering you like an annoying mother-in-law via a buzzer that won’t shut up until you do.
All the more reason to shop now.
While you still can
If you go and add up all the numbers...it’s not just Nissan in trouble. BMW, VW, Mercedes, and several others are also in a bind because of the money invested in this technology.
The other worry here that is starting to appear....hydrogen-run vehicles are no longer a fantasy. It’s possible that the public may embrace this more....than battery-powered cars.
Add onto this....the ‘forced’ route of telling the public that they cannot buy gas/diesel powered new cars after 2030 (like Germany did). If the public doesn’t latch onto this forced route and lessens all car purchases after 2030....it’d be a major problem for car companies.
NOT ONLY should the DEEP STATE stop pushing electric cars, we should get rid of ALL the PC crap loaded into vehicles. Cars need to be made GREAT AGAIN!
All this nonsense started when they started banning engines that burned leaded fuel (which should be brought back, for those who want them). Cars have not been the same since.
All downhill since the Renault deal. Their CVT’s are the worst.
They never seemed to outgrow thie taste for execrable advertising. Goofy styling continues. Have you seen one of those juke things? Fugly beyond belief. "It's Awesome!" LMAO.
What are you on about? There are three dealerships within 30 minutes from me here in Century City. Nissan is fine and is not going anywhere. They are global and actually have manufacturing here in the US.
Nissan makes a really good truck/trucks.
Bring back the Datsun 240z.
This is true. Except for a few minor cosmetic changes, Nissan hasn't updated their Frontier midsize pickup since 2004. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I like that Nissan’s sedans at least look like they were designed over 10 years ago. I don’t like the funky look that Toyota and some other makers have recently adopted.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that the book of Romans is only in the New Testament.
The dumbasses deserve to go bankrupt!
Thanks.
I don’t know what you’re yammering about. First off, if you’re in Century City...you’re not in the “heart of Hollywood”.
I am, at 70, a Los Angeles Native. There is only one dealership near me... in Downtown LA. I have no interest in driving to Cerritos and other places to have my car service. You may love driving to those places...I do not.
Have a 370Z now but had an earlier model a few years back. It is near impossible to find Manual transmissions these days let along having them serviced.
Sorry but this article is long on political spin and absolutely absent on facts.
Losses on electric vehicles did not decline Nissan’s market share not did it erase all its profits.
This is an article no less biased and full of drivel than the Trump Russia Colllusion nonsense
I’ll check it out. Probably something I should be reading or pondering anyway.
"ASS in everything"
That's one of the more unfortunately chosen acronyms I can think of! It certainly gives a much different meaning to "bad-ass car"!
There are a dozen or more articles by others sources if you check the news.
Buy a manual transmission. Millenial Anti-Theft Device.
I've got a 2005 Nissan Altima, 2.5 liter. Bought it new. The car doesn't owe me a penny. It's still got the original exhaust system, although recently I've had to have some small parts replaced, and some welding done. My garage takes care of me, and won't recommend replacing anything unless it's absolutely necessary. I live in the foothills of the Adirondacks, and the car has never spent a day in a garage. I paid cash for it, and planned on it lasting me until I died. I'm still hoping. It's got 123,000 miles on it.
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