Nissan: Sustaining Revival

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In this presentation we will cover the period of 2008-2011 at Nissan. The three main topics we discuss are the focus on electric vehicles Nissan has taken, the importance of the Chinese market, and the alliance with Renault.

Nissan has heavily bet on electric vehicles (EVs) as its answer to the increasing demand for more environmentally friendly automobiles. In our chapter we question the likelihood of the widespread diffusion of EVs in the near future, mainly for cost reasons. We look into niche applications of EVs, which we expect to be more likely in the European market rather than the Japanese or United States markets.
China is the largest single market for Nissan, representing nearly a quarter of its total global sales. Nissan markets its vehicles to rising middle classes such as China’s as “an important symbol of freedom, status and personal achievement.” We investigate Nissan’s success in this regard, and discuss future developments that are important for Nissan’s strategy in this respect.

The Alliance between Renault and Nissan has continually be hauled as one of the exceptional successes of this scale. Renault and Nissan proved that cross cultural alliances can work. We identify several key aspects of this success. The main point we raise in this respect is that Renault and Nissan did not chase scale, but sought complementarities in markets, capabilities and product architectures.