With the slow introduction of e-power models, Nissan seems to be gradually implementing the "Vision 2030" plan they released last year, although from the perspective of progress, their electrification speed is not as fast as Volkswagen and Ryota, but overall, there is some progress.
Recently, some media reported that Nissan Motor began a series of "factory transformation plans" in February this year.
It is reported that the Nissan Kandun plant in Mississippi, usa, has started a formal transformation, is expected to be completed around 2025, and after the transformation, the plant will produce Infiniti and Nissan's two new electric vehicles.
In fact, the plant has been serving Nissan Motor for 19 years, and has rolled off the production line with about 5 million new cars since it went into operation in 2003, including many of Nissan's main models overseas, such as the Altima (overseas version of the Tianlai) Frontier. In addition to the regular passenger car production line, the plant also has production capacity for other models, including light trucks.
Taken together, this is a very versatile factory, and it has a pivotal position for Nissan. This time, the reason why Nissan did not hesitate to drastically transform it at the cost of affecting production capacity was also in response to their previous plan to transform new energy, in order to finally achieve the 2030 production capacity target.
According to Nissan's chief operating officer , Ashwani Gupta , this investment in the renovation of the Mississippi plant is only one of their many plans in the next few years , and in the future they will also retrofit a number of factories around the world to enable them to produce fuel vehicles and new energy models at the same time, as well as the production of some power batteries and other business projects.
From the mouth of this Nissan executive, it is not difficult to see that unlike the transformation ideas of most traditional car companies, Nissan obviously prefers to change on the basis of existing production resources, extend the sales time of fuel models in the market as much as possible, and squeeze the surplus value of these models, rather than investing in a large amount at one time and blindly entering a new track.
Of course, such an approach has advantages and disadvantages, and in the short term, it can improve Nissan's backward situation on the new energy track, and save costs and maximize the use of resources. However, in the long run, this slightly conservative approach to transformation will put forward higher requirements for their overall management and coordination capabilities. How to use the original model to create a competitive pure electric new car on the basis of not building a new product line on a large scale is also a major problem in front of them.
From the current situation, the transformation pressure that Nissan is facing now is indeed not small. Pure electric models such as the "Leaf Leaf", which were once popular, have also entered the end of the product life cycle, and their competitiveness has been significantly insufficient compared with other new energy models.
The Ariya, the SUV model that has already been unveiled, will have to wait until next year or so for the fastest mass production. Even if it is, the hatchback pure electric car based on the CMF B-EV platform recently exposed is only an alternative model based on the Transformation of the Machi Micra, and it is likely that it will not be introduced to China, and it will not make too much waves in the market.
Therefore, the current Nissan really does not have a new energy product that can be taken. In this regard, their current idea is to first use the e-power range extender hybrid system to achieve the transition from their classic models to new energy, and then gradually open the production line of electric products through means such as "old factory transformation" and "resource reuse" to complete the brand electrification transformation.
Although such a strategy may seem conservative and passive, it is better than "indifference", at least in this visible "change", they can continue to trial and error and improve, and finally find their own direction.
As for whether they can finally achieve the ambitious goal of "launching 23 electric drive models and accounting for more than 50% of their new energy models" by 2030, it will take time to further test.