Raw Japan
Slices of Japanese business, politics and life
Electric dreams
The Tokyo Motor Show later this month is expected to be a very understated event, with foreign carmaker participation almost nil and outlays by Japanese firms reflecting hard times in the industry.
But Electric Vehicles, or EVs, and hybrids will be on display in force, with Toyota, Honda and Nissan giving previews ahead of the late October show.
Wanted: a hit Nissan product
Toyota is drowning in losses. Fiat is desperately seeking partners. Chrysler is bankrupt, and General Motors looks like it might be next.
In this environment, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn can’t be blamed for warning today of a second straight year of loss. Still, there’s no denying that Japan’s third-biggest automaker could be doing better if it weren’t missing one key ingredient: home-run products.
Data released yesterday offered a sobering reminder of that.
Last month, Nissan’s name disappeared from the list of Japan’s 10 best-selling cars as Honda’s new Insight hybrid snatched up fuel-conscious consumers in an ever-shrinking pie. The month before, Nissan had two models on the list — the Serena minivan and Note compact, ranked fifth and eighth. Now, the Serena has dropped seven places, behind, even, cars from smaller rivals Suzuki and Mazda.
Things are not much better in the United States, Nissan’s single-biggest market. Among passenger cars, its Altima ranks fifth. It’s above any offering from Detroit, but that’s little consolation when Toyota and Honda each have two cars outselling the Altima by miles.
Nissan would have been in a better position if they had put more money into the development of a hybrid car, a look at the best-seller list shows that the hybrid cars are doing pretty well.
