Nissan cuts 9,000 jobs as its vehicles fail to sell

[MSZ]

The Skyline has been sold in the US and has been independently SUV-sloppified for twenty years now.

Yes, they were sold as Infiniti. Of course most people have zero ideas of them being rebadged Skylines.

 

[EngieDiesel]

Yes, they were sold as Infiniti. Of course most people have zero ideas of them being rebadged Skylines.

Another one of those "Gran Turismo taught me" cases for... probably almost everyone outside of Japan, at least.

 

[tankuroded]

Hot take: I don't see this as passing antitrust approval, at least outside of Japan.

 

[Tornado]

The US won't care and any other market Nissan could just leave. Any attempts to block it would raise questions why the far more significant Stellantis merger was allowed through, as well.

 

[Veinz]

Do it. I want a Honda based off the Armada/Patrol.

 

[Blitz24]

Hot take: I don't see this as passing antitrust approval, at least outside of Japan.

As Toronado said, they could probably do badge jobs or some sort of re-jiggering to keep cars they want in specific markets if they cannot run Nissan/Infiniti there. Surprisingly, both Acura and Infiniti don't seem to be thriving at this point (in my eyes).

 

[Joey D]

Nissan R&D employee here. The media is (as they do) blowing this a bit out of proportion. The company is definitely not going anywhere. Sales year over year are up and there's some good stuff coming down the pipeline. This isn't the first time this has happened and we will rise again.

Well....this aged like milk.

 

[EngieDiesel]

I feel like part of it is also to make sure that the Nissan and Mitsubishi IPs stay with a Japanese firm, instead of ending up in the pockets of a European or Chinese company that would no doubt misuse them. And you know there are plenty of companies that are already lining up for those names if they get even the slightest chance to legally grab them.

Surprisingly, both Acura and Infiniti don't seem to be thriving at this point (in my eyes).

Though not entirely unexpected. In the last 10 years or so Acuras haven't really looked that much better than the average Honda on the outside, and Infiniti's weirdly bulbous design language has been nothing but off-putting in most respects. Plus fullsize pickups are doing the "living room on wheels" gimmick much better these days for about the same cost, and are probably cheaper in terms of both insurance and maintenance.

 

[Hlavco]

Mitsubishi's been misusing the Eclipse name just fine without China's help.

 

[tankuroded]

The US won't care and any other market Nissan could just leave.

Now that you mentioned that, I felt (even before Honda rumors/announcement) that Nissan could just pull out of the US market given how damaged (beyond repair?) their brand reputation is there. Perhaps the Honda merger might accelerate that.

 

[Tornado]

I meant "US won't care" as in they won't do anything to stop the merger and they are the only country whose opinion Nissan need worry about. Nissan has been signaled as the brand you go to if even Dodge won't finance you, but they still have a decent sales presence and deep retail channel. Their problem is that they are clearly and obviously still flogging cars that start at ten years old after wasting hundreds of millions of dollars they didn't really have on obvious dead ends like the second generation Titan; and thus can only compete by selling to people with room temperature credit scores and deep discounts. It's basically the situation Chrysler was in in the late 1970s (and again in the early 90s), which was turned around.


My point was more like if Nissan as a whole is threatened from existence (either liquidation or being bought out for the name) and (as the most prominent example for arbitrarily blocking corporate mergers) the CMA tries to block the merger from happening, the solution would be to just ignore them and leave the UK market than jeopardize the entire future of the company. As mentioned above, the Japanese government probably has some hand in suggesting Honda do this if the overall company is in as poor health as they've been saying publicly; and we've already seen said government treat Nissan executives like they were the 9/11 planners when Renault tried a complete takeover.

 

[tankuroded]

I feel like part of it is also to make sure that the Nissan and Mitsubishi IPs stay with a Japanese firm, instead of ending up in the pockets of a European or Chinese company that would no doubt misuse them.

The European part already (almost?) happened and as much I would like to see it for chaos, the Japanese government will probably fight tooth and nail to prevent them from falling into Chinese hands.

(Post delayed to avoid double posting, while also ensuring ping.)

 

[Keef]

Hot take: I don't see this as passing antitrust approval, at least outside of Japan.

Let's hope they gut Nissan corporate and management staff. Honda doesn't want this to become a Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger where they kept the Boeing brand and resources but switched to MD corporate and management staff. And that right there destroyed a once great company.

 

[EngieDiesel]

The European part already (almost?) happened and as much I would like to see it for chaos, the Japanese government will probably fight tooth and nail to prevent them from falling into Chinese hands.

(Post delayed to avoid double posting, while also ensuring ping.)

Regarding that, Renault is presumably okay with the merger talks:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/renault-open-nissan-pursuing-merger-talks-with-honda-bloomberg-news-reports-2024-12-18/

Though given they're valued higher than Nissan now, they're probably seeing this as a way to make an exit from their partnership without taking too much of a beating.

 

[tankuroded]

Let's hope they gut Nissan corporate and management staff. Honda doesn't want this to become a Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger where they kept the Boeing brand and resources but switched to MD corporate and management staff. And that right there destroyed a once great company.

Didn't that part also essentially destroy the Chrysler portion of both DaimlerChrysler and Stellantis?