The Wall Street Journal's "Boss Talk" chin wag with Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn begins innocently enough, providing a potted history of the Brazilian-born exec's career to date. As soon as the Q & A starts, things get ugly– for Detroit. "WSJ: Who is hurting the most in this market? Mr. Ghosn: Obviously, the Big Three. So how much more are they going to be able to sustain this kind of pressure and what's going to happen? That's a very important question for all the industry. WSJ: Can all the auto makers survive in such a difficult environment? Mr. Ghosn: No." And then, "WSJ: When it's all over, is there a native U.S. auto industry? Mr. Ghosn: Frankly, I don't know. I can tell you it's going to be very different from today. But whether there is going to be one left or two left or none left I don't know." Huh.
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And this is news because…?
Somebody’s been reading TTAC…
(Another) Nissan exec: Car culture is fading
(Fortune) — If you are looking for some insight into what the automobile of the future will look like you could do worse than talk with Tom Lane. An American, he runs all of Nissan’s Product Strategy and Product Planning from his office in Tokyo.
Unlike most executives, he welcomes the imposition of new U.S. fuel regulations that mandate 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
…
The population in Europe is aging too, and Lane sees similar ennui spreading there. As car ownership becomes more expensive and cities increasingly impose congestion pricing on car usage in center cities, he sees car owners switching to mass transit for their daily commute, and then renting cars for longer trips.
“The U.S. is headed that way,” he says. “The challenge for us, going forward, is a more interesting offer. Doing a better Sentra or an Altima isn’t going to do it.”
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/14/news/companies/taylor_detroit_nissan_future.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008011409
I have considered renting a car for my weekend trips. Enterprise is an easy walk from the office and at $65.00 per weekend it would be cheaper to rent an econobox four weekends than to make car payments on a Prius. It is inconvenient that Enterprise is closed on Sundays, however.
Unless there is a 1000-fold increase in the availability of mass transit in the US, I don’t see the US heading that way at all. Outside of several urban centers, you still need a car in this country and probably will for the forseeable future. I suspect any contraction in the US market is going to be due primary to people keeping their cars longer. Funny how this is happening a few years after 60-month and longer loan terms became popular.
thalter :
January 28th, 2008 at 8:26 am
And this is news because…?
Because, unlike bloggers, Carlos Ghosn is an automotive executive with a proven track record.
He makes a nice living making product decisions and reading a balance sheet, and that gives his opinion a little more cachet than missives from reporters who have NOT helmed a multi-billion dollar aotomobile manufacturer.
Carlos Ghosn is certainly not an Idiot! Listen to what he is saying people!
Ghosn says what Wagoner denies, Mullaly knows and Nardelli is busy making it happen.
Mass Transit won’t work particularly well either, not while it is publicly owned or in some private- public partnership.
and how is car culture fading? hotting up a civic or something else is just as popular as its ever been racing is never going away.
but this new “recession” will kill GM, Ford & Chrysler and maybe a few others (in their current form) as well.
Jeez Robert, which WSJ article did you read? Because in the one I read Ghosn do not say “The Big Three are headed for Bankruptcy.” Rather, he suggested that among the unstated possibilities (failures, mergers, foreign buyouts), there would likely no longer be as many as three independent US automakers. There is a huge difference.
The fact that that could happen without a single bankruptcy (say, GM & Ford merge and Chrysler gets bought out by … Chery?) is probably why he did NOT say what you say he said.
Kevin :
You might want to read what’s actually in this post. And if you’re wondering about the source or my interpretation, click over to the story– ’cause that’s the one I read.
Whether it works well or not, mass transit is the best option, or the only option, for many:
Commuting: The Ferocity and the Fun
ON Jan. 2, commuters in and around New York City woke up and celebrated the new year by going back to work. On that day and every workday since, I have been commuting with them, traveling in and out of the city to write an online series called Next Stop for The New York Times about how people get to their jobs and what they think of the ritual they go through twice a day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/realestate/27cov.html
BTW, how do you pronounce Ghosn? When I was in school they told us that ghoti could be pronounced like fish, so is Ghosn pronounced like fission?
Donal:
BTW, how do you pronounce Ghosn? When I was in school they told us that ghoti could be pronounced like fish, so is Ghosn pronounced like fission?
I’ve seen it two ways. One is “gone” to rhyme with “phone” and the other is “goin” like “going” is prounounced in the south – without the final “g”.
Shaker,
If he has been reading TTAC, then buy Nissan stock. Those guys are going to take off.
Oh, sorry Robert, I assumed the headline was part of the post. Maybe you have that served up from elsewhere like an ad banner? That would explain a lot. Well I guess it shows that I didn’t go to journalism school.
Kevin:
Am I missing something here? What part of this post’s headline is misleading? Ghosn said…
“But whether there is going to be one left or two left or none left I don’t know.”
So Ghosn believes all three automakers are heading towards bankruptcy. He just doesn’t know which one or two it will be, or whether they’ll ALL go down.
Great. A peddler of cheap, plasticky Nissans and Renaults taking shots on the Big Three. Ghosn is fortunate to have the luck of catering to either: (a) uninformed automotive purchasers in North America; and (b) a French market that will buy Renaults no matter how poorly they are designed or built.
Nissans do not lead in any category of automobile in any class. It swoons naive buyers with cars that look more expensive than they are. The Altima certaintly does not outclass the Fusion, Malibu, or the CamCord.
So Ghosn, please keep your opinions to yourself.
So Detroit1701 if people buy a Nissan they are naive and uninformed but let me guess if they buy a vehicle you like they are wise and informed?
Maybe just maybe some people have different tastes needs and desires than you. Also, Ghosen didn’t just throw out that opinion to piss off former big 3 fans but he was specifically asked by the WSJ that question. Whats he suppose to do not answer it?
Ghosn has additional credibility, because he’s actually rescued a global auto company that was sliding into bankruptcy. He understands what it takes to survive in that industry. Hammering down costs is part of it. Sometimes it means going outside the box: “It is impossible with French engineers or Japanese engineers to do a $2,500 car because it’s quite a mindset. So what we said is Indians have to do that.”
As for Nissan’s alleged inferiority, one can note that Consumer Reports just ranked it at the top among mainstream sedans.
Also, for Nissan backing. The Z, the VQ (engine, not any specific model), GT-R, and G35/37. Are all very good price/performance choices. Infiniti has shown that platform sharing isn’t always a bad thing.
Nissan puts its product where its mouth is. Ghosn talks sense.