Nissan is facing significant challenges, including job cuts and a drastic reduction in production capacity, as they anticipate a 70% drop in sales. The hosts discuss the implications of these changes on Nissan's legacy, brand identity, and future offerings, particularly in the sports car segment. They express concern over the lack of exciting new models and the potential impact on Nissan's heritage programs. The conversation also touches on the need for Nissan to simplify its lineup and reconnect with driving enthusiasts to regain market share.
In this episode we discuss the current state of affairs within Nissan, & how they got to this obvious low point the manufacturer is experiencing. We debate on whats next, and how we would get out of this mess if we were the CEO.
"...d simplify that into aI would almost restart with my model lineup and everything to simplify and likeYeah, t..."
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Hey, and welcome back to the next episode of the right-hand drive guys podcast the podcast for guys who like right-hand drivesI'm Bobby. This is Aaron. Yeah, we go and here we are. We're back again episode 105
Cool, so I don't know man. We we were like
What the hell is wrong with NissanThat's pretty to put it as you knowYeah, they've been in the headlines this past week. Yeah, they really
have and soNissan struggling like Nissan struggling like your buddy that could never keepHe's living paycheck to paycheckHe's you know what I'm saying like Nissan is likeBumped six from you right exactly living on your couchYeah, so that's kind of where we're at we're likeNissan don't fail us now like after all these yearsYeah, after everything after all the ups and downs after all the the championships and the losses everything like don't let us down in
2024 dude right right you've been here too long. Yeah, yeah, you've earned your place and so
Yeah, I mean how does this happen, you know, so Nissan is cutting 9,000 jobsYeah, they're reducing their production capacity by 20%That's that's a boom that's quite a lot especially when you're talking you know millions of dollars worth ofWorth of ours. Yeah, yeah 20% yeah, and so
Even the Nissan CEO Eucita is taking a pay cut a pay cut by 50%Yeah, he must be going down to only you know, that dude's gonna be bumping six from you. Yeah
50% still probably more than we could imagineYeah, I'm sureYou know, but apparently they're calling it a severe situation and you were sayingHow much are there was it was it down 70% yesSo 70% is what they're expecting their sales to be down yeah fromWas it three billion? Yeah, it was in the billions for sure. Yeah, so down to hundreds of millions
Yeah, so just think about that think about their global workforce think aboutJust everything that they're spending money on that they're gonna have to reduce yeah, theyThey're in trouble dude it likeYou know only in running a business and thinking aboutlosing 70% of my incomeDude that would be cripplingYeah, I mean to most people it would be yeah andso
It's kind of it's kind of tough because they're like a legacy car car maker, right?
So they really like it's kind ofAlmost similar to the GM thing right right like when they shut down a PontiacOhThink they had to do restructuring and they had to refigure out their brand and andBre meet their customer. Yeah, I mean
Think about it. We lost multiple
We lost at least three car brands car makes when GM shit the betSo what are we going to lose?
We how does Nissan make it out of making 70% less but still give us a small small ratio oftheirOverall income and customer base where the small we're bleep on the map. Yeah as far as
Global customers and like revenue, you know, soNismo and these programs the heritage collection these different thingsThe global HQ all the all of these kind of torsty things andThese skyline people things right those how could those not some of it be on the chopping blog?
Right is that is that why you can't get Z-Tune stuff anymore? Is it I mean is that why you can't buy the display at the Murray factory?
Yeah, cuz that's literally the last one. Yeah, I mean
Yeah, I heard that it was a supplier issue, but who knows right? I mean you would think they'd be able to sell that stuff
You think they'd still beable to do the stuff that's making money, but I guess I don't know how their funding worksInternally, you know how does Nismo or Nismo get its money?
Right, you know because I mean sure it's easy to say like yeah, why aren't you guys producing the RB26 blocks, you knowWhy aren't you guys producing this or that but like?
Dude, yeah the enthusiast the skyline enthusiast I feel like is a veryLike we were talking about very small piece of this global company so it's hard to give that attention when it'sYou know making you a few million where this other thing is making you closer to a billion right or yeah more than that right like even ifYeah, I mean so there's got to be cuts somewhere. Mm-hmm. I'm not sure
Exactly what they're gonna do with it and then now enter Chinese auto makers who areBecoming more and more respected and so their market Nissan's market share is gonna shrink with that because they're gonna take some of itRight, I mean it's it's kind of I don't know if that's a tough business to be in right and I don't know how they didn't see this comingYeah, and you know nowadays I can't think of a single Nissan other than obviously the Z and the
The GTR that's also on its way out yeah other than those two I can't evenHonestly tell you a Nissan car that I would go to the lot and buy brand new yeah, I mean is that part of the problem?
That their cars are just likeI don't know I mean just not exciting enoughYeah, I mean I think that's a lot of brands issues period right now, you know likeBack in the dayRight like it wasn't all about and this has gotten worse since Tesla and EVs have come out with their screens and it's all electronics right but back in the dayYou know 90s likeEven early 2000s sure you maybe had your radio on but that was your only
That was your only sensory input that wasn't the car itselfRight, you know what I'm saying like whether it was shifting the gears the clutch the gap, you know everything rolling up the windowRight, it just all of that, you know, it was there was just more feedback to the soul so to speak right now likeThey make cars so simple it takes away the excitementThey only want you parking it yourself and fucking it up like it's like crazy, dude, you know the new cars are just
So the in its sensory overload in there. There's LEDs here. There's a
27 inch screen here. There's a screen in your rear view. There's a screen for you know
odometer there's a screen like it's just like damn dude likeIt's just put you into this boxYeah, so do I think just them not having you know theSports versions and now they'll have one single sports carYeah, really now that they've eliminated the GTR whichMixed feelings like yeah, we needed to get rid of the R35But not until we had an R36 which we had in insane amount of time to do
Like insane amount of time. I've seen so many fake renderings for R36
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, so many fake renderings and I'm like dude just give us anyYeah, right they have their pick dude. They've already designed it for them like yeah, just look at look at the analytics who got the moment
Okay, there's your car right like that's what you would think but they justDude for 10 plus years 15 years or whatever they literally just rode that horseFrontwards backwards all around you they just fuckingYou know and soYeah, I'm aI'm a proponent for like an S16 Sylvia right which they've had concept cars for that tooYeah, I know and so I know the S16 Sylvia
Rendering I saw recently was like sick dude. I was like dude. I would take that like
But that's the thing and you know we're having that that sidebar conversation aboutpretty muchYou know the GR86 is in this price price range and if you go around drift days circuit daysWhatever you'll see those at the track because they're you know anyTree level right? Yeah, yeah, and they're anywhere from like brand new we're talking right 30 to 40 grand
Right, you know 30 to 40 grand that's not cheap, but 30 to 40 grand isAffordable so to speak then 25 to 30 grand was in the 90s right to get 25 and 30 grand in the 90sfelt like hardest out, you know like it was much harder come by where I feel like you knowYou can get approved for loans, right? You know the inflation rate that includes you know, so it's it's kind of one of those things
But when you go over to NissanThe only sports cars to Z right and it's what motors in that likeIt's a twin turbo V6 twin turt soThat's 45 to 60 K, right?
You know in 65 if you want Nismo right, so that's a little that's like out of thatThat's not like quote unquote easy to come by so to speak right right?
I mean, I don't think it's in the same class as like a GR86 right now. It's more middle
Right middle of the room and I think you know that's like aMarket that people are missing I feel like is that entry level, you know, rear-wheel drive in a4 cylinder. Yeah, like
Yeah, I could I definitelydefinitely agree andProduction costs aren't like insane on this low low-tier car, right?
You know, you just got to put the right motor and it make a rear-wheel drive like don't make it super ugly right andThe enthusiast will buy is it gonna bail your company out of a 70% loss hell no, there's screwedRight, right, but it'll make it hurt a little bit less out of magicYeah, I mean that's something that obviously people have been asking for for years and like yeahIt's a part of the market that's being fulfilled by Toyota andFeel like Mazda maybe with the with the meada. Yeah, like which they're still sitting on like they got a
They need their whole different mess, you know likeObviously, they're they're doing their book work and they're not the ones sayingThat they're losing 70% right, but still they got to do something too, you knowbut yeah, I meanThey're trying to get out of it, you knowan activist investorCame along pretty much bought two and a half percent andYou know nobody any of us if it has ever heard of you know some capital fund and
theNissan shares on the star star star crewStock market jumped more than they had in the past 15 yearsWhen when this investor bought two and a half percent. Yeah
So that's some good newsYeah, and so II guess this is it's like a fee F e simo capital soThey're from Singapore. I guess they buy distressed companies. I'm like, dude Wow. Okay, they go around by people there on their last leg
Yeah, got itbut whatever I guess it works for Nissan andyou knowIt's it's like what you were saying all these new cars are boring, you knowWhat's the difference between a Nissan and a Kia and a you know whatever in this Chinese?
Well, what's what's the difference between besides price right like like we said there's noinput anymore the driving excitement is gone likeIt's just to your car just to go somewhere now. It's not to drive it right yeah, and it's just nothing nothing special
I guess you could say like I mean even as a commuter car as a daily driverI couldn't think of a Nissan that I would really want but you know, I could think of a couple haundersYou know because you know whatever cool little unique things they got this coolRight, yeah, yeah, stand out right right like a cup holder on the left dude in the armpits. Yeah, that's it
Yeah, I meanFor sure, I get what you're saying they they do need to be unique. They need to
Find out it's almost like they've lost their identity. Yeah, like that's almost how it feels is they've like lost their identity
And they need to get creative to to regain that identity, you know that brand identitySo it's big and especially shedding the R35 now their identity doesn't it can't include motorsports reallyYeah, I mean the 400 right. I mean yeah, I mean that's right. It's not the
I mean it doesn't have the prestige there's no flagships like sports car right besides the ZI mean, no, yeah, they got to come out with something. I mean you would think but not when you're losing 70. I know
Yeah, so I mean that isThat's what's tough. They're in a pickle. They
Thought they were gonna have more than what they did. They're not gonna so
We were reading that Mitsubishi and I think we're understanding this right purchased back because Nissan had invested inMitsubishi. Yeah, Mitsubishi purchase back 10% of that right and so that's capital to go in the bank, but then
They own now own only 24% of Mitsubishi correctThey're also in alliance with Renault. I guess as well. Oh, yeah, that's weird. That's such a weird thing
That's where they went wrong. I feel like yeah, they should have found some other automakers that were like
I mean everything that they were kind of doing in the 2010s. I feel like
Was all the wrong move? Yeah, you know, there was no
I don't know and I think that's where it all started to go wrong isProbably yeah, and that crazy CEO they had that ended up, you know being wanted andYeah, in the country and that just that's a whole other story of the car those go orYeah, that's who it is. Yeah, I mean, and so Yucita comes in and is trying to pick up the pieces, but
I mean, yeah, sometimes that's not as easy as it might have already been seekingRight and all you're trying to do is just plug the whole but eventually the whole, you know breaks three and nowIt's the ugly truthYour company is struggling. Yeah, so if you're Yucita
What is your plan like you know in the basic sense what are you doing to turn thisChisholor around?
I mean, I would look at what the people want and what can be sold andI don't know what can bring people back to the brand that have maybeleft inYou know they're buying something else now because Nissan just makes boring carsSo yeah, I would just look at what people want which I feel like is you know affordable sports cars or just like just notNot the same boring cars they have now
pretty much and trying to capitalize on that andSeeing where that goes. I mean
It's hard saying because that's obviously I mean you got to think about you know globally I guessbutI feel like that's that's an obvious one thoughIt's just making a car that people actually want to buy that's affordableDo they can move units of?
Yeah, I mean that that does make sense. I mean you need to move units and so if it if it was me and Yucita shoes
Yeah, what would you do? I would
simplify on allsides of the company I would lean out and I would figure out exactly whereWe're not making money like what is not making us money and I cut it out it would hurtIt's gonna hurt some people is gonna hurtJapan it's gonna hurt but I would lean right out. I would simplify my offering
I would reel back in all these things that I have goingand I would simplify that into aI would almost restart with my model lineup and everything to simplify and likeYeah, that's probably where I would start is simplifying all of that and leaning out heavily and thenfiguring out how to grow back into your shoes right instead of trying to fill these shoeswhen
Your feet are killing you know, whatever the case may be right so and that's not that crazyI mean if you think back a few years agoFord cut all of their cars out of their product lineup except for the MustangPretty wild. Yeah, first man. I mean to say that you're a car company that's not gonna make any cars anymore except for your flagship sports car
Yeah kind of a big reason right, but Ford's been one of those companies that have kind of been able to sustain themselves andGet through the hardship per se yeahYeah, yeah, for sure they they might have did just that you knowThey saw what people wanted and leaned out operations and their lineup to focus on what actually the peopleWant and what they'll sell I guess you know in him sand. Yeah, and I mean
Hey to use fordness example. Yeah, yeah, that's tough, but it does I mean
It's hard producing so many models right like because of just all of the different resources it takes yeah to produce the models and a lot of R&DAnd just all that I mean a lot goes into behind replacing just one car or you know, yeah, I meanSo I don't know that's what I would do. I would just simplify it
You know, I guess if I had to simplify it. I mean
I don't know the EVs are like cool, butIt's just becoming too much. You're spreading yourself out too much right
But however Nissan sure they do have some trucks, but they're not like this crazy truck company, right?
They're not selling truck units like Ford and GM right so you can't just say cut out all the carsBut you have to figure something out and of course yes, I would sayYou need an R36 even if it's dude make it super limited. Yeah, if you need to make it like
500 a year whatever it is right somethingTo keep that about your identity and then of course the entry-level sports car right the four cylinder rear will drive like the S16Right, you need an S16 and you need an R36 100% to keepUs interested like our type of people right likeWe're gonna fall off from you as a brand in 2025. Let's say and we're only gonna be cool with you as a brand in in
1999 or 95 right like like yeah, no, I love Nissan. No, no, no like the old Nissan like no, no, no that new shit sucks
I like that, you know, and I don't want to be saying that right, but yeah again. Yeah besides the GTR
There was nothing worth buying over the past 10 years likeYeah, that's why I'm not driving a Nissan truck although like I don't I don't mind theirdiesel ones. I mean, but it's not even their own motor right there. Yeah, they're like makes a match on some things
But globally though they do have their own diesel brandYeah, I mean, I mean Nissan diesel like is pretty big like in Japan. You see him. Yeah. Oh for sure like the little
Cab over trucks or whatever right right even pretty big ones. Yeah, for sure
I mean and maybe that's what they should focus a little more on instead of like all theseSUVs and EVs and like right. I don't know, but
We're not running it. No, it doesn't really matter what we think, but I mean
I hope they figured out. Yeah, so
Worst case right worst case scenario hereNissan goes belly upWhat happens toWhat happens to the heritage program the parts program andYou know the nismo line of things what happens to all that you thinkI don't even knowIf it takes that long until they go belly up so to speak right like I don't I think that stuff's on the choppingblock
Maybe not today, but I mean if things don't turn around that's on the chopping chopping block that'sNo matter what it's a wholeThing right, you know, and it's something they have to manage they have to staff they needAccounting all of that stuff for it if you can cut those things out. Yeah
Reduce all of that maybe that's part of your leaning out. I don't know, but
We are a small small we are spec a dirt on theirPlaying field dude, right do you thinkSomeone would step up to start producing things for these cars given that theOEM manufacturer isGone maybe but I feel like they got they have a challenge aheadThat be a lot right becauseLike for instance garage is she to write they have theThe ability to press out these panels and things
Yeah, like things along those lines like what happens likeIs someone in a bind all that machinery or does it disappear and these cars comeIrreplaceable like and that and the value more than they are the value would go up for sureEspecially yeah, I mean that would be wild and I would hate for that to happen me tooI yeah, I don't I don't need any more value on a car. I want like my OE people still involved. You know what I mean?
SoYeah, I mean, I hope that doesn't happen either, but they got to get creativeThey got to put the heart and the soul back into it. They need to do it for the driver like sure
I guess have your one vehicle that's forThe rider yeah, but make do make some stuff for the driver right because that's what everyone's losingAnd the first company that really comes back on thatI mean in summer trying, you knowBut the first company that really puts the driver first I feel like he's gonnawin yeah, you knowAnd whether people like it or know it not like it whether they know it or notThey do enjoy driving it. Yeah, you know, it's just maybe that's not the first thing on their mind
But as everything is faded off they've just gotten complacent in thisTech bubble thing, you know, like that will drive for you pretty muchYou only so yeah, they've lost the love of driving becauseThey don't drive anymore, right? They ride, you know for the most part so
We got to get the love back the love of driving when we get in these. It's because we love driving them. Yeah
Yeah, yeah, 100% my heat hasn't been working, but likeIt doesn't stop me from driving on the freezing day. You know what I'm saying?
Dude and tell that first snowflake and first salt truck goes by. Yeah, it's all games
I think exactly that's what I'm saying because because I love driving it andThey they need to produce cars that you know give people that feelingYeah, like 100% that's what it's missing from them. Yeah, that's the basis of it give people that good feeling make them enjoy
Driving your cars and they'll buy your cars. Nissan dude if you're listening to this
Make something I want to drive. I'll buy it. I'll trade in my GMC. I'll do it like
Let's get something going for the people that want to support you. Yeah, make some six speed cars
Do not put the CVT and everything right? That's true the CBT trash. I thought we learned this like a while ago
Yeah, yeah, stop doing thatI mean the CBT away right get that clutch pedal back in there. Yeah dig them out of the archives
Dude put the clutch pedal back in there and see yourself sell some cars dude. What'd be really cool?
If Nissan had the foresight to likeOn some of these new cars like for instance like some of these cars they produce new they could uhThey could use parts that you could also use on your skyline like oh wow so like they're usingOld part right right you get like a two for one right. Yeah, that's pretty cool. That'd be pretty cool. Nissan
Nissan what's up? Hey, hey, hey out when the time comes. They already got the design for it right yeah
They just like retrofit it into a new car and then they can have theNew stock for to replace and make itYeah, that's a being sayingYou're right because a lot of the parts have changed and gotten cheaper you know, right? It's a whole it's a whole thing when you're talking 25 years span
Right, you know, but that'd be crazyWe got nothing but love and respect for Nissan and we're definitelyWe're over here crossing our fingers that you guys are in someSome boardroom right now justRip eating each other new assholes just pissed off because yeah, you're you'reI don't know performance is super subpar yeah, and you guys should be embarrassed. Yeah, but
With every low it can come a high right if they just actually doRip each other new assholes in that boardroom and figure it outThen come back to us as a consumer base and give us what we need yeah if you keep feeding us the junkWe're gonna keep not supporting you right and this is where you end up100% and I'm still trying to go to or I'm a mori factory and all that shit so don't be close in that doubtDon't be doing it that bathrooms way too dope. Hey, maybe you should use one or two less camp shafts on the wall or maybe page your bills and he's on
Chill, soMy frustration that they let themselves get to this point is coming outYou know like you guys let yourselves do thisDude right oh well, so positive vibes in Nissan we love youUh, might talk a little shit on you right now. Yeah, but hey, you need it for motivation. Yeah, you need it
It's like that dad that would talk shit to you but really love you, you know, yeahAll right guys, we appreciate you listening as always, you know, this was episode 105You can find us on the internet at rhd g us and for episode 105Nissan don't fail us now. Please don't I'm bobby. This is Aaron. See ya peace
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