Nissan is too slow to develop new product. That’s the conclusion company executives reached after studying the processes used by Chinese automakers to speed the design, testing, and rollout of new vehicles.
The company held its future product showcase event in Japan last week, with its chief performance officer, Guillaume Cartier, telling reporters, “We’re not quick enough. This is something we’re planning to address.”
That sentiment was echoed by Nissan’s incoming CEO, Ivan Espinosa. He noted that the company currently takes around 55 months to develop a new vehicle and said that he wants to cut that time to 37 months for future models. The accelerated timeline will impact upcoming models, including an EV with Xterra vibes.
While the process changes are absolutely necessary, they may be too little, too late for the automaker. One analyst told InsideEVs that Nissan should have made the move years ago and said that waiting as China grew was the wrong move. JATO Global Automotive Analyst Felipe Munoz said, “It’s a good start, but, everything is coming quite late, so all of these measures should have been taken some years ago. Not three or four years after the Chinese just took off. But still, everything is welcome to solve their situation and catch up.”
[Images: Nissan]
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