Today in the car world the big three we have in America are Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet or GM. Over in Japan however, there are 3 big auto brands that have been competing head to head since the late 1980s and they haven’t stopped since. However, out of the three brands, there is one that may disappear into the shadows and may never be seen again due to the declining market and the rise of their competitors that can make a better product. 

History

In America, they actually didn’t start off with the name “Nissan”. Back in the late 1950’s Nissan was big over in Japan, however they wanted to get their foot in the door with the US car market, so they started importing cars from their smaller brand under the name of “Datsun”. These Datsun cars started off as a small brand making smaller cars for those who don’t need a SUV and don’t want to pay big money for bigger cars like Ford and Chevys. They did so well in the US market until 1975 when they became the largest importer of foreign cars in the United States. After they imported their 1 millionth Datsun into the United States, they kept carrying on until early on in the 1980s when Nissan started selling their cars here. However, in 1999, Nissan was faced with its first hardship where they were under the threat of going bankrupt. They came to a European car company called Renault and they invested into Nissan to save them from bankruptcy and carried on like nothing happened, Nissan has had a rich history in automotive making legendary cars in Japan, with the Skyline making a huge mark in the JDM world and culture with a cult like following. With legendary models like the Skyline GT-R, most specifically the R32 and R34’s were well known. They were in a lot of the fast & furious movies and popular in drift culture, and have a rich racing heritage with the R32 GT-R being top in its class in racing. The 240 and 280 SX’s are known for being some of the best drift cars of all time, and the Silvias for being compact sports cars that are affordable for the middle classes in Japan. The nissan Z’s are really powerful for their size, and popular here in America for drifting and being track weapons. At the peak of their performance evolution was the R35 GT-R, which was recently discontinued this year after a 17 year production run and 3 different facelifts and improvements. Finally, their top of the line, over the edge supercar was no more. After all this their only sports car left is the Nissan Z of the Z34 generation which isn’t selling well here in America at all.

Nissan as a Company Today

Nissan is a Japanese automotive company who also has a big presence in America but in recent years they’ve been declining. In recent years, there have been numerous times where Nissan claimed they were going bankrupt, they’ve also had many controversies in recent years with their CEO who was on the run from the Japanese government for reasons i’ll explain further on and in this article.

Today in 2024 Nissan has over 6 SUV’s, 4 cars, 2 pickup trucks and 2 sports cars according to their website but strangely some of their vehicles offered are no longer in production like the legendary GT-R and the Titan pickup truck. Besides that, they offer a wide variety of vehicles to buy from their most popular car the Nissan altima and their all new Kicks SUV for the 3rd generation. One of the main reasons why they might go out of business is how their sales are declining in recent years. For example, some of their cars are rather outdated with some prime examples like the Murano, which remained unchanged since 2015, in 2018 it had a slight facelift and then in 2023 it received the new updated Nissan logo, but other than that it’s still the same car almost 9 years later, People don’t want the same outdated car, as most cars undergo redesigns on average every 2-3 model years. The same story can be said with the Nissan Titan, which hasn’t been redesigned fully since 2015 as many people were not buying these either as they wanted more modern and updated pickup trucks with newer and good features like the Chevy Silverado or their direct competitor like the Toyota Tundra. Because these 2 vehicles have remained unchanged for almost 9 straight years, that means their customers strayed away from these vehicles or they had other alternatives offered by Nissan or their direct competitors like Honda and Toyota. Another reason for this decline is that some of their vehicles have reliability issues, which is odd considering that this brand once had a history of making some really reliable vehicles but that can’t be said in 2024. 

Reliability Concerns & Problems

The Nissan Rogue, which is a small compact SUV, has a load of reliability issues, for one the most important issue is the CVT (continuous variable transmission) which is known for having transmission failure. Owners also report slow acceleration times that are abnormal, slow response times, low engine idle and hard jerking or jolting which is not normal for any other car. Another crippling problem is the suspension problems, the suspension usually wears out over time, but in the Rouge’s case they sometimes wear out a lot faster over time than normal cars as the suspension parts get so worn out that the ride becomes wobbly or unstable. Besides the rogue suspension problems, the CVT seems to be the only major failure point in the car, as this is the same for most Nissan cars using the same CVT transmission. The Nissan Altima also has some critical failure points such as the CVT failures as mentioned from earlier, and a rather odd problem where the windshield cracking for no reason. (nobody knows why and yes this is real) Also, a critical safety feature the AEB (Auto Emergency Brake) stopping for no reason which is a serious problem especially if it fails when you need it. And lastly, it’s also known for consuming oil extremely faster than it should, which is known as oil starvation which can end up to be rather expensive when you pay for the oil yourself or even more expensive when you have someone do it for you. 

Underwhelming Basic Products?

Moving on, another reason as to why the company isn’t doing too well not only has to do with some of their cars being outdated, but also that it doesn’t appeal to most people at all anymore. It’s not only about the enthusiasts, but also about their customers. For the enthusiasts they have 1 enthusiast car left, as the R35 GT-R is gone but now they only have the Nissan Z and Z Nismo, which is the only car left they make that is supposed to appeal to enthusiasts. Before not too long ago, they had the GT-R as mentioned before and they had other Nismo models for their non-sports cars. Such as Nismo versions of their Sentra’s or their Juke SUV they made a few years back, in the 90’s they had a huge variety of sports cars like their skylines and Silvia’s which have a really large variety and now they only have 1 sports car that isn’t selling that well. This is due to the big price tag and the unimpressive performance it offers, as for the normal customers like those who need reliable transportation with a few features and seek nothing else, they aren’t appealing in any way anymore. As they still make the rather basic transportation, and nothing more unlike their competitors like Honda making more modern cars but still don’t exceed the realm beyond basic. That honor goes to Toyota as they make cars with bold styling and futuristic cues on the inside and out. Sure, I’ll be honest. Their new Ariya Electric crossover looks futuristic and it really nice to sit in the driver’s seat as the materials feel so comfortable with its leather and cloth seats and the ambient lighting, but for almost $60,000 for an electric crossover that has less range and power than a Tesla Model Y is ridiculous, they tried at least.

As for enthusiasts, Nissan killed off what seemed to be their last enthusiast car besides the Z which was the GT-R, and now they’re left with the Z. As to other competitors, Honda still has their Civic Type-R and their off-road HPD models. With Subaru they have the BRZ and WRX models while Toyota has the GR Supra which is being discontinued next year. They also have the GR86 and GR Corolla, along with their TRD models like the 4Runner, Tundra TRD Pro and Tacoma TRD models which is a lot more than every other competitor. 

The Carlos Ghosn Controversy

A few years ago back in the early 2010s, Nissan was involved with some controversy in regards to their former CEO Carlos Ghosn. In 2010 it was allegedly that Carlos was not reporting his annual earning to the company and the financial institutions in Japan, this was used against him in 2018 when he was arrested one morning while trying to board a plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport for a “important business meeting” as Carlos feels like it was a setup to derail the ongoing Nissan and Renault merge to save the company again from bankruptcy. Carlos was set up to be arrested which was carried out by a man named Hari Nada, who didn’t agree with the merge and he knew about Carlos and his financial misconducts, another man involved, Ravinder Passi, was one of a few people who knew that this was going to play out. One day Ravinder was called into Hari’s office where Hari says to him that there was going to be a “dramatic arrest arranged for publicity” and that Mr. Nada and the Japanese government reached a plea deal providing them with all the evidence and information to use against Carlos. When Passi heard this information, he was sent into a panic as people who were involved in the case shouldn’t be put in charge of it, and as more events unfolded Passi feared for his safety and took himself and his family and fled Japan after informing Carlos and being informed by Nissan to flee. Only with this as he was getting ready to leave Nissan sent their staff and court officials with police on standby to raid his home, and after this they recovered a company laptop and a phone issued to him from Nissan which they believe contained “inappropriate and egregious” behavior by the executives at Nissan.

He was fired and sent to the UK, going from working with 250 people to only 2 people alongside him. Since then Passi has taken Nissan to what’s called an “employment tribunal” fighting for unfair dismissal. Carlos Ghosn fled Japan in a box on a plane on the run from the Japanese government, as he claimed that he wanted to save the company by increasing the influence as Renault owned 43% of the company at the time. Considering the hardships they faced at the time, before Carlos escaped he was placed on house arrest as he was placed under extreme measures while awaiting trial after being put on bail. On the day he planned his escape from house arrest, and he managed to get himself to a hotel where he met 2 men dressed as musicians and he got into a box which was intended for a large instrument. After that these 2 unknown men transported him to the airport where the private jet took him from Tokyo to Turkey before landing in Beirut, and the very next day as he stayed in Lebanon for the time being. Since then the 2 men identified as American citizens who helped Carlos escape were somehow found and they were handed over from the US to Japan and they are currently facing up to 3 years in prison for helping Carlos escape.

After everything that has happened from what seemed to be a businessman trying to save a company from failure. He tried to bring everyone back together from shady chairmen working at it for the money, and he never gave up and he faced many “consequences” for these actions that never happened. And yet after ultimately failing but being successful at the same time, he is the perfect example of trying your hardest and never giving up, even when the end result is failure. 

Opinion from a Former Automotive Technician + Nissan Z Nismo thoughts and review

Mr. Fiorito, our beloved automotive teacher here at Tahoma was saddened to learn that Nissan may go out of business, and he says “it’s unfortunate but surprising at the same time” and I couldn’t agree more. I may be harsh when I say it, but they’ve made the same mistake one too many times that its finally caught up with them, and it might be over. as Nissan becomes a name in a book and it will all be over for them.

Moving on, I recently went to Younkers Nissan in Renton to see the new Nissan Z Nismo, to see if it was worth the $70,000 price tag. I will say this, it is most certainly not worth 70k. On the inside you’re met with plastic mostly everywhere, and some of the materials are nice to touch but it doesn’t feel 100% there. Compared to some performance vehicles I’ve been in that go around this price point and it doesn’t feel like it’s worth 70k. Keep in mind there are a vast variety of performance cars with some form of carbon fiber, and it looks like this car doesn’t have any carbon fiber anywhere. This is unusual, but considering that its a Nissan, I’m not sure if they’ve discovered that element yet.

The seats are comfortable with black alcantara with red leather bolsters which feels nice, but it isn’t 100% comfortable like sitting in a GR Supra or an M2. For a $70,000 car there are definitely some parts where they cheap out but not in a good way. For example, the hood needs a hood prop to hold it up, and keep in mind a brand new base model Honda CR-V has hood struts that keep it up for you without a prop and that vehicle costs almost $30,000. Especially for a $70,000 vehicle with a manual hood prop is ridiculous, furthermore on the inside there is plastic everywhere, it’s not even a nice fake silver casing it’s just low quality plastic for the A/C controls. This also is evident in various controls for different functions, and even the shifter is a plastic oval that feels so low quality that I could break it without trying.  Yes, it’s a $70,000 car but myself and others can agree it’s not worth that much money. If anything, the regular Z isn’t worth its starting price of $40,000 but it is what it is and it’s only the Z purists that seem to buy them because they’re willing to pay that price.

Where are they headed next? Or is it the end of the road?

After announcing they’re going bankrupt, they’ve cut 9,000 jobs and Renault who owned their fair share of the company at one point (47%) has decreased their share to around 29% which impacts them drastically. They’re down 85% in third quarter profits, which is a large reason why they’re losing money including everything else I’ve mentioned earlier. However through all this, there is hope. There have been rumors surfacing that Honda might invest some of their money into Nissan to save the company as well as Infiniti (which is Nissans luxury brand) but I find it hard to believe. They too are struggling with trying to sell their cars as they are also outdated and overpriced, and their sales are at an all-time low like Nissan. With everything that has happened, I feel like this might be it as it seems like everything they’re trying to do as far as selling their products and their new models isn’t enough for the growing market, as consumers want more in a new vehicle that other brands can provide easily. This isn’t their first time as they have almost went bankrupt, and this time it might seem like they won’t find a way out this time and it may be the last chapter of this once iconic brand, so this may be the end for Nissan.

Sources used:

BBC UK

Carbuzz

CNN

Motortrend

Car & Driver