Nissan is the latest manufacturer to aim to cut EV costs in order to keep up with an increasingly competitive and saturated landscape. The company is now seeking to compete with Chinese rivals by slashing costs by 30%, Financial Times reported this weekend.
Nissan, in collaboration with Renault and recently Honda, faces challenges in China's auto market, the report notes. After delays, Nissan's new business plan seeks to boost sales by 1 million units by fiscal 2026, introducing 30 new models, half of which will be EVs or hybrids.
This includes launching eight "new energy" vehicles in China and starting exports of locally made cars next year. In North America, the goal is to increase sales by 330,000 vehicles by 2026, with India becoming a key export hub. Additionally, Nissan aims to release an EV with solid-state batteries by 2028, Financial Times writes.
Chief executive Makoto Uchida commented: “Faced with extreme market volatility, Nissan is taking decisive actions guided by the new plan to ensure sustainable growth and profitability.”
Nissan's new strategy follows a notable alliance with Honda to create EVs, marking a shift towards combating the influx of competitive, high-tech models from China, while still working with Renault and Mitsubishi in specific regions.
Despite Renault reducing its stake in Nissan to 15%, its partnership with Nissan persists. The report says that Nissan aims to reduce EV production costs to match those of traditional cars by 2030, tackling the current issue where manufacturers lose approximately $6,000 per EV sold in the U.S. due to high production costs and customer tax credits.
Amidst this, Nissan lowered its annual sales forecast after underperforming in key markets like China, the U.S., and Europe, highlighting a need for improvement especially in the U.S. hybrid market, where it lacks a strong presence.
Similarly, we have noted that auto companies are slashing investment in EVs, as is the case with American auto manufacturers like Ford and GM. We wrote last month that Joe Biden's vision for EVs across America is in "full collapse".
As we wrote then: "Meanwhile, the higher costs are driving automakers away from EVs. And as battery material requirements are set to double by 2027, fulfilling these mandates will be increasingly difficult, putting Biden's ambitious EV strategy at risk."
Thinktanks like Brownstone have simply noted that when it comes to EVs, "the great reset didn't work". Jeffrey Tucker wrote last month: "In short, the illusions of these horrible policies have come crashing down. It was born of liberty-wrecking policies under the cover of virus control. Every special interest seized the day, including a new generation of industrialists seeking to displace the old ones by force."
He concluded: "More and more, it’s obvious what a disaster this was. And yet no one has apologized. Hardly anyone has admitted error. The big shots who wrecked the world are still in power. The rest of us are left holding the bag, and paying very high repair bills for cars that are non-optimal for driving from one town to another and back again in the cold weather that was supposed to be gone by now had the “climate change” prophets been correct."
Recall, a report from Consumer Reports last year found that electric vehicles have almost 80% more problems and are "generally less reliable" than conventional internal combustion engine cars.
