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
There are three Nissan dealers within the LA city limits:
Nissan of Downtown LA
Nissan of Mission Hills
Universal City Nissan
There are others located in Van Nuys, Glendale, Gardena, and Carson. I’m not saying any are convenient for you, but it’s not true there’s only one left in Los Angeles.
Much of the difficulties at Nissan can be laid squarely on their use of BOGUS (CRAP) CVT TRANSMISSIONS... THEY are UNRELIABLE and UNREPAIRABLE!
Gubmint mandates forcing not just Nissan but everybody else to the electric car market.
If Nissan's other cars are selling, why is it only Nissan is seeing the profit plummeting? Granted, they are one of the earliest car makers to roll out Nissan Leaf, but that still doesn't explain it. Unless the development cost is much much higher than reported.
This doesn't make sense.
The article says Nissan cut jobs in Indonesia and Spain. Guess what, Nissan manufactures American autos here in the USA, nothing about job losses here. Their sports cars are manufactured in Japan, their 370Z and GTR.
Nissan is certainly a very popular brand in the United States, there is no shortage of Nissans on the road when I’m out and about any day of the week. Yes, I’m a Nissan owner of a 2016 Murano SUV, very happy with it so far. I chose them for being built in the USA. If this article isn’t fake news, it’s certainly cherry picked facts to grind an ax against Nissan. Not sure why, they provide American jobs.
The dealership nearest me has a rudeness and tendency to lie repeatedly. Can’t deal with them. Too arrogant and the a saleman’s word means another lie is being used
I bought my used 2010 Nissan Rogue because it was a “gutless wonder” that gets good mileage, rides well (with the correct tires) and carries a LOT OF STUFF.
If Nissan were to change to a more conventional transmission they would lose maybe 1 MPG but would gain in reliability and restore their good name. GET RID OF THE BOGUS CVT TRANSMISSIONS!
If you are Facebook, and your main product is finding people in China who are practicing Wrongthink, and you can do that with 100 employees who work in Mountain View CA, you can make money all day.
But if you are Nissan, or anybody else who buys iron ore and rubber by the shipload, and pay workers in the tens of thousands to make useful things, then you really do have to make things people actually want.
Plus Millennials don’t like cars. If they live anywhere where they can walk, pedal or scoot to their destination or do an Uber, or car share like we have here in Indianapolis, they don’t buy cars. That should be a scary thought for all car manufacturers.
“Battered by a drop in sales and dive in profits, Nissan says it plans to cut 12,500 jobs around the world — including more than 1,400 in the United States — after posting a big drop in profits for the first quarter.”
I hear the Tundra is an awesome truck. One of my life long Ford friends is set on a new Tundra this year.
The only memorable vehicles are the 280Z/300Z and the Pathfinder and maybe the Altima but only because of all the commercials for it.
Their quality was ok but they tended to make changes mid year which drove parts guys and mechanics crazy. I’m a bit of a car guy and can’t think of any engine that had any fame. Toyota trucks had the 20R and 22R that are legendary due to their reliability and ease to work on. Toyotas always reminded my of working on a Chevy for some reason.
I have a Titan that I traded some work for to use as a spare vehicle for my family. It had a bad valve body (transmission) that I repaired and then I drove it for about 10,000 miles. It’s a 2005 with the 5.7 and four wheel drive. I couldn’t believe how quick it was, however I also couldn’t believe how thirsty it is under normal circumstances. Best fuel mileage I could muster out of it was around 14-15. It has 160,000 miles on it.
Nissan/Renault engineered, manufactured and sold junk
https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2017/nissan-transmission-cvt-class-action-lawsuit.shtml
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gpctiidqKM
Datsun’s were great, now the current Nissan, not so much
https://auto-videos.com/video_e4a484w5e5s3m4s4351406
Romans nine is New Testament. It’s my favorite chapter in the Bible. It’s about God’s Sovereignty in Salvation. Possibly the most hated chapter of all the Bible.
if they would quit making the Titan look like 18 year old boys with too much money accessorized them, they would have a nice truck. The ones at our local dealership scream mall crawler.
Their cars are crap. Their Jatco Rubber Band Transmissions are the biggest POS’s. Only the Frogs can screw up something like Nissan, and they used to be right up there with Toyota in car quality.
45 years ago i was a Datsun parts manager.
Except for the Datsun Patrol (a jeep like creature) and the 240, 280 z’s they were crap even back then.
Yep.
Nissan is hooked up with Renault and Fiat-Chrysler. Sounds like a merger of companies who need taxpayer money to survive and where vehicles are secondary. They’re all a mess.
And the 280zx!
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