Nissan doom watch

WalterDnes

Late February 2025, the 3 major credit ratings agencies (Fitch, Moody’s and S&P) downgraded Nissan’s debt to “junk” status. https://ca.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/nissans-credit-rating-downgraded-to-junk-by-all-three-major-raters-93CH-3867918

It only got worse from there https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/13/business/nissan-job-cuts-intl

Nissan’s 2024 profits were down 88% from 2023
Nissan is laying off 20,000 workers and closing several factories worldwide
Nissan expects to lose 200 billion yen (USD $1.35 billion) in the first quarter

Note that the credit downgrades were before Trump was elected. The drop in profits was also mostly before the election. Throw in the latest tariff war into the mix, and Nissan’s sales prospects in the USA look bleak. All foreign automakers are losing marketshare in the big Chinese market, with the exception of Tesla, which is effectively a “domestic manufacturer” in China.

How long before Nissan goes under or gets bailed out by Japan?

telcodad

Former Nissan CEO makes a harsh prediction for the company’s future
Carlos Ghosn believes he saw Nissan’s trouble coming.
By Colette Bennett, TheStreet - May 13, 202
https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/former-nissan-ceo-makes-a-harsh-prediction-for-the-companys-future

:
Ghosn believes leadership is to blame
In an interview with French Newscaster BFM TV published on May 5, the Lebanese-French-Brazilian businessman and former automotive executive says that Nissan is in a desperate situation and that it is “forced to go begging for help from one of its main competitors in Japan.”

Ghosn’s comment refers to Honda’s prior agreement with Nissan and Mitsubishi about a potential merger. However, the companies announced in February 2025 that they had decided to terminate the merger. Had it gone through, the partnership would have allowed them to share the cost and development burden of creating the next generation of vehicles.

Ghosn also believes the situation in which Nissan finds itself was predictable “as early as 2020,” and that “decisions that were too slow." He also said that “most of the problems lie with Nissan’s management.” ….

px_eliezer_

telcodad Carlos Ghosn believes he saw Nissan’s trouble coming.

Well Mr. Ghosn himself was arrested in Japan for financial crimes, then he fled the country. There are still arrest warrants out for him.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2024/12/23/i-will-be-in-lebanon-for-a-while-five-years-on-the-run-for-nissans-carlos-ghosn/

He escaped from Japan in a box.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57760993

Two Americans were arrested for helping him escape, but at least one (Greg Kelly) is still trying to clear his name.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/carlos-ghosn-japan-charges-two-americans-helping-ex-nissan-ceo-n1261703
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/02/04/japan/crime-legal/nissan-kelly-high-court-ruling/

Anyway, Ghosn is a fugitive from justice—probably not very trustworthy or unbiased.

Somewhat-Reticent

px_eliezer_ Ghosn is a fugitive from ~~justice~~ Japanese firms

px_eliezer_

Somewhat-Reticent

He may not be a devil, but neither is he an angel.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/aug/23/carlos-ghosn-docu-series-apple-tv

real_aurgathor

px_eliezer_ Anyway, Ghosn is a fugitive from justice—probably not very trustworthy or unbiased.

There may be good reasons for you dislike of Ghosn; however, he is still an automotive expert with many years of experience just by looking at his accomplishments objectively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Ghosn

px_eliezer_

real_aurgathor

He’s probably right about Nissan, I was just saying that he has his particular biases.

timcuth

I say good riddance. To me, driving their cars feels like I’m in a tin can. Even a Ford feels more solid.

HooRU

timcuth I didn’t like their cars either. But I pity all the workers and vendors.

WalterDnes

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/nissan-seeks-delay-supplier-payments-free-up-cash-company-emails-show-2025-06-30/

Summary

Nissan offers suppliers delayed payment with higher amount, emails show

Nissan not forcing suppliers to take offer

Automaker says move is to support free cash

Emails show Nissan’s efforts to conserve cash

This is after a $4.5 billion loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. I originally saw a recent Youtube video about this crisis, but figured that a Reuters article would be more credible.

Dks01

And to make matters worse,

Nissan is recalling nearly 38,000 vehicles in Canada as part of a wider North American recall due to a potential bearing manufacturing defect that could lead to engine damage or failure.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/autos/article/nissan-recalls-nearly-38000-vehicles-in-canada-over-potential-engine-defect/

Somewhat-Reticent

I remember excellent Datsuns and a truly sweet Nissan Maxima Special Edition.

GeekGirl1

I was at a car show last week and saw a beautiful restored 240-Z.

px_eliezer_

Dks01

Similar recall in the USA—more than 440,000 cars—some may need new engines.
https://fortune.com/2025/07/03/nissan-infiniti-recall-new-engines-rogue-altima-qx50-qx55/

This will finish the company off…. 🙁

(My wife and I both own Nissans, but not these particular models….)

wdunwoody

I had a Nissan Pathfinder… Can’t remember the year, but probably early 2000. I had always been a Chevy Suburban guy, but those prices rose through the roof over the years. Nissan was an automatic with manual shift into 4WD. Gotta tell you, it was one of the most reliable and best handing vehicles I ever had. Great in rain and snow. Think it had over 300k miles on it when I retired it. But living at the Jersey Shore, and driving on salted snowy roads took its toll… Body panels rusted out. I debated buying a new one, but that was when they started with all of the “new” automatic transmissions… like 7, 8 and 9 speed. They were an absolute disaster! So I bought a Honda Pilot instead, Still have it, under 40k miles. I wish the Honda had the parking brake in the center console like the Pathfinder… easier and faster to find in an emergency. And I liked that the Pathfinder let me choose to stay in 4WD if I wanted in winter… Pilot is auto 4WD. I think Nissan shot themselves in the foot. They USED to make a great mid-sized SUV…

WalterDnes

px_eliezer_ Attempting to squeeze out extra fuel economy to meet EPA requirements is killing the auto industry.

1) Internal combustion engines hit peak efficiency/economy at a specific RPM (varies by engine). The job of an automatic transmission is to keep the engine RPM at or near that “sweet spot”. Attempts to do this have resulted in 7 and 8 speed automatic transmissions. The “ultimate” design is “CVT” (Continuously Variable Transmission). Sounds good on paper, but Nissan’s implementation has been a disaster. See https://www.carparts.com/blog/why-the-nissan-cvt-is-quite-possibly-the-worst-transmission-ever-built

2) Turbo-chargers, are euphemistically referred to as “Eco-Boost”. Yes, a 4-cylinder engine is more economical than a 6 or a V8. But it’s underpowered when you need to floor the gas pedal. Compromise: run around as a regular 4-cylinder engine regular traffic, and kick in the turbo-charger only when necessary. Again it sounds good on paper. But turbo-chargers are really complex machinery, and break down a lot, as per Nissan’s most recent recall.

3) Automatic-Stop-Start (think of an acronym!). The idea is to turn off your engine when idling at traffic lights. Sounds good on paper, but…

telcodad

WalterDnes 3) Automatic-Stop-Start (think of an acronym!). The idea is to turn off your engine when idling at traffic lights. Sounds good on paper, but…

Yes, as discussed in this other thread: https://broadbandbulletin.com/d/3050-the-automatic-engine-shut-downstart-up-aess-system-may-be-going-away

takeahike

We had a 2006 Infiniti G35, the luxury brand of Nissan. I wound up selling it a couple of years ago, kind of to my girlfriend’s chagrin, just like I also insisted that she sell her ’96 Ford Ranger because it was a death trap. The Infiniti was not dangerous like the Ranger was IMO but it had its share of problems, like an oil leak that had to go back to the dealer three times before it was finally fixed (fortunately that was covered under the 4-year warranty it had). It also had a known problem of the front passenger seat automatic mechanism failing as well as the gas gauge doing the same and the parking brake stretching as to be useless (all my calls to shops about repairing all these things were met with forget it diagnoses). It is also my understanding the Nissan CVTs have very high failure rates.

HooRU

Sad but they were an also ran.

Somewhat-Reticent

Drifting in a (Brock’d carb clip) Datsun 510 was quite an experience.