Nissan 2030 Ambition Plan
Nissan has announced that it will “further accelerate the electrification strategy” of its “Nissan Ambition 2030” plan.
In 2021 Nissan launched the Nissan Ambition 2030 plan to develop 23 “electrified” vehicles including 15 EVs by 2030. The 7 remaining “electrified” vehicles will still include petrol combustion engines.
In a statement Nissan said it was updating the plan to “27 new electrified models” including “19 new EVs, by fiscal year 2030”.
The company now says “the electrification mix across the Nissan and INFINITI brands by 2030 is projected to increase to more than 55% globally, up from the previous forecast of 50%.”
So in a nutshell the updated 2030 plan is to increase the fully electric vehicle range from 15 to 19 models and to increase the “electrification mix” by just 5% on the previous plan to 55%.
Ambition plan lacks ambition
The ambition part of the plan is questionable. Nissan’s goal of a 55% “electrification mix” by 2030, a date when many analysts believe fully electric vehicles will make up over 90% of global car sales.
In the statement Nissan says it “aims to expand the possibilities of mobility and society by providing experiences that inspire confidence and excitement, and enable closer connections between people and broader society.”
Without providing any detail on how it plans to scale EV production, the company went on to say “Through these efforts, Nissan will further promote the democratization of EVs and e-POWER models to meet the needs of individual markets, improve the competitiveness of development and manufacturing globally, and further accelerate the electrification strategy to achieve Nissan Ambition 2030.”
In the statement Nissan did provide a forecast of “electrified vehicle penetration” by 2026 for its major markets but failed to give detail on what proportion of these sales would be fully electric BEVs.
- Europe: 98% (up from 75%*)
- Japan: 58% (up from 55%*)
- China: 35% (from 40%*)
- United States: 40%* (EV only; by fiscal year 2030)
Focusing on expanding model range instead of scaling production, a questionable strategy
Like many other petrol and diesel car manufacturers, Nissan’s “electrification” strategy seems to focus more on offering a wide number of different models rather than following Tesla’s strategy of focussing on just a few models and scaling production volumes.
The desire for legacy automotive companies to try to offer everything to everybody may be one of the reasons they struggle to scale EV production to any significant volumes. When a factory has to make 27 different models, it needs to constantly retool and change production lines slowing it down considerably.
Nissans all electric Ariya SUV was lunched in Japan in 2020 but still hasn’t made it to Australia three years later. Japanese pricing for the Ariya starts at around ¥6.6 million ($A78,200) which makes it much more expensive than the Tesla Model Y.
All electric Ariya SUV. Source: Nissan
Because Tesla limits its product range to just a handful of models, it doesn’t need to constantly retool meaning it can invest more time and money in developing new more efficient manufacturing techniques like its single-body castings. This narrow focus means Tesla can save huge amounts of time, space and money, enabling the company to scale production rapidly while lowering its prices.
While traditional auto companies trend towards complexity, Tesla is moving in the opposite direction, deleting parts and processes, streamlining everything. Spending time and money on product and production, not marketing. A strategy it will showcase in this weeks Investor Day event.
Legacy automotive companies might have better chance of surviving the world’s transition to EVs if they offered fewer models and focus on making higher volumes. There is overwhelming demand for electric vehicles and customers are so desperate to get them many vent their frustration with the lack of supply.
Maybe legacy auto should stop offering a plethora of different EV models and instead just focus on actually making EVs.
Keyword: Nissan plans 15 new EVs, but its “Ambition 2030” plan is light on ambition