Nissan Motor Co.’s incoming Chief Govt Officer Ivan Espinosa is open to pursing a partnership with Honda Motor Co. even after talks for a historic tie-up between the Japanese corporations abruptly fell aside final month.
The auto business’s push into clever vehicles “is going to require a lot of work and a lot of investment that probably will need some partner,” mentioned Espinosa, who will assume his new position on April 1. “I’m open to Honda or other partners as long as these partners are helping us drive the vision of the business.”
Espinosa, who at the moment serves as Nissan’s chief planning officer, takes the helm at a important time for the corporate. The collapse of talks for an settlement to mix with Honda beneath a single holding firm—a deal that might have created one of many world’s largest carmakers—has left the struggling producer in want of a lifeline. High of Espinosa’s to-do record might be to hunt out collaborations to develop electrical automobiles and applied sciences, a part of a push to refresh the ageing product lineup that’s behind the stoop in gross sales.
That hints at the kind of associate Nissan might pursue.
A tie-up with a conventional automaker might provide “some synergy” by way of measurement, powertrain expertise and funding in batteries, Espinosa informed reporters in Atsugi metropolis, close to Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama. However “there’s another avenue, which is who should you partner with in order to develop this intelligent part of the future. There are some traits and some competencies that traditional OEMs don’t have,” he mentioned, referring to authentic gear producers.
Taiwanese iPhone maker Hon Hai Precision Trade Co. beforehand expressed curiosity in shopping for French automaker Renault SA’s stake in Nissan. Whereas Nissan is receptive to cooperating with the corporate also referred to as Foxconn, it sees extra advantage in partnering with an enormous tech agency, Bloomberg Information reported earlier this month.
Espinosa mentioned he regrets not accelerating product improvement beforehand, whereas additionally warning that “changing a big company like Nissan is not an easy thing.” He reiterated the Japanese automaker’s plans to shorten the time it takes for a automobile to go from improvement to manufacturing to 30 months to 37 months, from the present 50 months to 52 months.
Revamped lineup
Nissan is ready to roll out numerous new and refreshed fashions in fiscal 2025 and 2026 because it seeks to halt its monetary free fall.
In North America, a brand new model of the compact sedan Sentra might be launched later this yr, and the U.S. and Canada would be the first markets to launch the brand new Leaf, which might be outfitted with a port that allows charging at Tesla Inc.’s Supercharger community. It’s additionally set to start out manufacturing of an unidentified new EV at its Canton, Mississippi, plant from late fiscal yr 2027.
In Europe, an electrical variant of the Juke compact SUV might be launched in fiscal 2026. In the meantime, in India, Nissan will introduce a multi-purpose car in fiscal 2025 and a five-seat compact sports activities SUV in fiscal 2026 — each of which might be manufactured in Chennai.
A mechanical engineer by coaching, Espinosa has overseen the long run product and repair portfolios for the Nissan and Infiniti manufacturers worldwide. He lists the auto business’s high challenges as electrification, connectivity and autonomous-driving applied sciences—three areas the place Nissan has traditionally lagged.
Now, tasked with discovering a manner ahead for the carmaker, Espinosa was reasonable concerning the challenges he faces.
“A CEO is normally dealing with one or two major crises in his or her career,” he mentioned. “I’m gonna have to deal with four or five at the same time. I have a turnaround to work on. I have a deep morale crisis in the company. I have deep transformational work to do.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
