In a detailed interview with the Financial Times, Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa spoke about how the automaker got into its current predicament and what it plans to do after the current slash-and-burn program is completed.
Mr Espinosa spoke to the business newspaper during a recent visit to the company’s technical center in the UK and issued blunt warnings about the company’s future during his conversation.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for (automakers) our size to stay relevant in this environment,” he said. “You have to stay open and flexible.”
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Legacy automakers are currently grappling with varying adoption of electric vehicles in different regions, the expansion of Chinese companies around the world, uncertainty over tariffs in the U.S., changing safety and emissions regulations, and the prospect of autonomous vehicles on the horizon.
Additionally, Nissan is in a financial mess, largely of its own making. The company lost 670.9 billion yen (AU$7.1 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2025 and expects another multibillion-dollar loss for the current year.
Asked how the company got into this position, Mr. Espinosa said the company had “forgotten who we are … and we have become a financial target company,” citing former CEO Carlos Ghosn’s lofty sales targets and the heavy discounts and incentives used to try to reach those goals.
After taking the top job in April 2025, Mr. Espinosa launched the company’s latest turnaround plan, called Re:Nissan, which calls for the loss of 20,000 people, the closure of seven factories around the world, the pause of mid-term product development, and the sale of the Yokohama F-Marinos soccer team and the company’s global headquarters.
Additionally, the CEO says he has been working behind the scenes to break down silos that he said hindered decision-making and address the toxic culture within the company. He claims “there was a lot of politics, a lot of tension and a lot of executive posturing” in the past, but that is “no longer the case.”
In the future, Mr. Espinosa wants to shorten the development time for new vehicles to 30 to 37 months. In addition, the company is relying on its Chinese joint venture partner Dongfeng to support the development of electric and plug-in hybrid models even faster.
The two have so far developed the N7 sedan and the Frontier Pro ute together, both of which are scheduled to be launched outside of China. The N7 has been confirmed for the Middle East and is a possibility for Australia, while the Frontier Pro is due to land Down Under in 2027.
He also believes Nissan is in a “very unique position to become the Japanese leader in smart mobility.” Autonomous driving has been a money pit for many automakers so far: Ford and Volkswagen are closing their Argo AI joint venture in 2022 and GM is closing its cruise robotaxi division at the end of 2024.
Mr. Espinosa left open the possibility of a sale of the company under his watch, saying only: “Anything can happen in this crazy world.”
Honda and Nissan called off their merger in early 2025 after Honda requested that Nissan become a de facto subsidiary. While Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi are still discussing ways to work together, no agreement has yet been reached.
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is now much looser than it was in Ghosn’s time. The three automakers still work together on certain models and projects, such as the Nissan Micra based on the Renault R5, but joint procurement and platform development are a thing of the past. Renault now has partnerships with Geely in Asia and Latin America and Ford in Europe.
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