A F#$king Weird Week For Nissan

A F#$king Weird Week For Nissan

Nissan has been showing off a lot of concept vehicles since we entered the 2020s.

There was a funky electric convertible.

A (Fisker-inspired) futuristic electric pick-up.

A crazy supercar called the Hyper Force.

Don’t forget the Hyper Adventure SUV concept.

They planned to electrify about half the vehicles they manufacture and launch seven new vehicles in North America by 2026.

There’s been a lot of back and forth over their development of solid-state batteries.

And all we have to show for all that fanfare is the Ariya.

Although the Ariya was selling well (just not as well as the defunct Versa), and Nissan Ariya owners can charge at Tesla Superchargers, that doesn’t appear to be remotely enough to turn things around.

Two weeks ago, Nissan’s shares jumped after reports that activist investor Oasis Management had taken a stake in the automaker, and a filing showed that an entity related to activist Effissimo Capital Management had also taken a stake in the company. Effissimo specializes in buying distressed companies. reuters.com, bnnbloomberg.ca

“Nissan appears to be fully in what its CEO has described as “emergency mode.” After committing to hefty job cuts and potentially slowing development, the automaker has reported further production declines.” carscoops.com

Nissan dealership profits haven’t been great. carscoops.com

Their worldwide production decreased by 6%, while production in the US and China fell by 15%. reuters.com

The Financial Times reported that a senior official close to Nissan is quoted as saying, “We have 12 or 14 months to survive.” ft.com (paid subscription required)

News broke on Friday that Stephen Ma, Nissan’s CFO, is set to step down from his position. bloomberg.com (paid subscription required)

It is a story repeated from the Volkswagen and Toyota camps. There are only so many cars being bought. Production by these OEMs is down. Meanwhile, Chinese OEMs are growing aggressively all around the world. nytimes.com (paid subscription required)

Incumbent OEMs weren’t ready for a full-out car war they didn’t even know they were fighting. Michael Dunne made this clear in his recent post on Twitter (X), “China will export a stunning 6 million cars to more than one hundred countries this year, cementing its position as the world’s No. 1 exporter.” x.com

Back in March, there was some hope that Honda and Nissan could partner to fend off Chinese rivals. They even invited Mitsubishi to join in on their OEM thrupple. theverge.com

Will Honda swoop in and save Nissan? reuters.com

Or will there be a fire sale on Pathfinders?

Time will tell.

People Have A Lot Of Feelings About Bike Lanes

I’ve been writing this newsletter for eleven months now. And I will tell you that I can’t predict how people will react to my emails. I just can’t. I routinely get it wrong.

I sincerely thought my Trump, Cybertruck post would cause some folks to unsubscribe. I hit send. I winced. And that week, no one unsubscribed. Not a single soul.

Last week, I wrote an open letter to Doug Ford about bike lanes. And that post got the most folks unsubscribing I have had all year. People have a lot of feelings about bike lanes.

I mean… I have a lot of feelings about bike lanes, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. And risking further defection and audience loss, I’m not done talking about it.

On Monday, Dougie and the Ontario government passed their bill to allow bike lanes to be ripped out on critical bike routes in Toronto. cbc.ca

The Globe and Mail reported that 120 doctors also wrote an open letter to Dougie, explaining the danger he was putting Toronto cyclists in by removing these bike lanes. theglobeandmail.com (paid subscription required

As I alluded to last week, the provincial government’s response amounts to a war on data in addition to being a war on cyclists. theglobeandmail.com (paid subscription required

Dougie still has not realized that maybe he should spend taxpayer’s dollars on building better transit and not spend it to rip out much-needed bike lanes.

“Cars are the reason we have traffic congestion. There’s no other way to place the blame.” bloomberg.com

China’s Automotive Expansion

Zeekr opened its 500th dealership in Singapore. cnevpost.com

BYD asked dozens of suppliers for price cuts and discounts. reuters.com

Great Wall Motors plans to open a factory in Brazil. carnewschina.com

Must Know Musk News

Pete Buttigieg schooled Elon by explaining on Twitter (X) how the US federal program to fund EV charging infrastructure works. theverge.com

Elon wants to eliminate the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. businessinsider.com

Twitter backers might make back their losses with a windfall from the xAI deal. ft.com (paid subscription required)

Elon asked people to submit their X-rays, PETs, MRIs or other medical images to Grok for analysis. fortune.com, x.com

Tesla and Rivian may have resolved their “trade secrets” lawsuit. techcrunch.com

Neuralink plans to test its brain chip to control robotic arms. pcmag.com

Rise Of The Machines

Hyundai unveiled a new wearable robot called the “X-ble Shoulder” to make you stronger and help you avoid injuries during heavy labour. electrek.co

BMW and Figure AI have made remarkable advancements in co-developed humanoid robot’s capabilities. interestingengineering.com

Tesla’s Optimus robot gets fancy new hands. x.com

Tesla confirms that the Optimus “hands” demo was staged with a person operating the robot. teslarati.com

Energy

Mercedes-Benz is developing a solar paint that allows EV owners in sunny locals to charge for their daily driving needs without ever plugging in. motortrend.com

BYD launches a new grid-level battery solution. energy-storage.news

BYD is launching a new blade battery for electric vehicles. electrek.co

SAIC’s new solid-state batteries will begin mass production in 2026. carnewschina.com

Sodium-ion batteries are getting closer to mass production. ess-news.com

But Wait, There’s More

Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N features fake shifting and fake car noises. theverge.com

Hyundai has a rearview camera problem. autonews.com

Ford has abandoned plans to produce battery material for electric vehicles in Quebec. autonews.com

Ford plans to juice up a new trim of the Ranger to nearly 10,000 pounds of towing. roadandtrack.com

The launch of Stellantis’ Ram 1500 REV electric pick-up is delayed until Q2 2025. autoblog.com

Porsche plans to include a variety of powertrains in future vehicles as they slow down their transition to electric vehicles. caranddriver.com

Mercedes-Benz now has an Apple Watch app. theverge.com

Rivian gets a huge $6.6 billion loan from the US federal government to build manufacturing in Georgia. reuters.com

Volkswagen workers are angry. autonews.com

Northvolt's bankruptcy hurts Volkswagen. reuters.com

Marques Brownlee reviewed the long-awaited Polestar 3. youtube.com

Zero-emission vehicle sales in Canada rose to a record high of 16.5% in Q3. autonews.com

No one knows what the fuck will happen with Trump’s planned tariffs. But it doesn't look good for anyone. bbc.com

Jump over to this week’s “Kick Out The Jams” post.

You read to the bottom. That’s kick ass!