Nissan's new CEO intends to slash its vehicle development time

By Daniel Leussink

ATSUGI, Japan (Reuters) - Nissan plans to dramatically cut its car development time to boost its competitiveness, the struggling automaker's incoming CEO Ivan Espinosa said on Wednesday.

Japan's third-largest automaker currently takes about 55 months to develop a completely new vehicle.

"We are slow. This is one of the things we have to face," Espinosa, currently chief planning officer, told reporters at an event about its product plans.

He said he wants to cut development for the first car in a family of cars to 37 months while the second car or third car would take just 30 months.

Espinosa, a two-decade company veteran known as a passionate product person, takes the helm on April 1. He is expected to refocus the automaker's priorities on developing vehicles more in tune with customers' tastes as he seeks to steer the company out of a deep sales slump.

Nissan has several gaps in various markets, Espinosa said, adding that a key part of his vision was to have "five or six brand-oriented models" that would go into as many markets as possible.

"Models like Patrol, models like the Z, probably the Leaf, you know, cars that are really describing what Nissan is about," he said.

Underscoring the depth of its pain, Nissan has cut its earnings estimates three times for the year ending this month, has seen its debt rating reduced to "junk" and risks losing its rank as Japan's No. 3 automaker to Suzuki.

It sold 3.3 million vehicles worldwide last year, a small decline from 2023 but only one of many with sales down some 40% since 2017.

In China, Nissan has been pushed to the sidelines by local brands such as BYD, while in the U.S., it has suffered from its failure to launch hybrids. It also did not manage to capitalise on an early lead in electric vehicles.

As part of Nissan's restructuring plans, the automaker has said it will cut 9,000 jobs, reduce global capacity by 20%, close a plant in Thailand by June and shut two more plants that it has not identified.

Espinosa said the company was considering additional measures, but declined to give details.

New vehicles to be offered in North America in the coming financial year include a Leaf crossover - the third-generation of the world's first mass-market electric car originally launched in 2010 - as well as its first plug-in hybrid, the Rogue SUV developed with Mitsubishi Motors.

The Leaf will also be sold in Japan and European markets in the next financial year.

Nissan also plans to start producing an electric SUV at its Canton, Mississippi plant late in the year beginning April 2027.

In Europe, the automaker will begin sales of the electric Micra produced with alliance partner Renault before the year-end, Nissan said.

It will also introduce the new Leaf and a hybrid version of the Qashqai crossover in Europe in the coming financial yearand add an electric Juke to its lineup there in the year after.

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)