Nissan isn’t really doing well. This isn’t exactly news to anyone who has been watching the company for the past, oh, decade or so, and it’s also not a problem that Nissan alone is having to deal with. Lots of carmakers aren’t doing so hot right now. Hell, look at pretty much everything Stellantis owns! Would anyone say that Chrysler is thriving right now? They make one damn car. How about Lancia? Maserati? Those companies are all pretty much hollow shells of the glory they once were, and there are some that would argue that Nissan is, if not quite there yet, heading down that path. But you know what the difference is?
Nissan may actually be worth saving.
Now look, I’m not trying to disparage a marque like, say, Lancia, which has decades of incredible and passionate and exuberant cars behind it, cars that you encounter parked at a car show and you look at it, and for a moment time stops, and it’s just you and that exquisite machine with a strange flag stuck on it.
Lancia has such an incredible and storied history – the first unibody car, the Lambda, incredible rally cars like the Stratos, accessible and usable but still wildly lovely and fun-to-drive cars like the Fulvia and the Delta Integrale, and so much more. But recent Lancia is all just re-badged city cars and hatchbacks. The Lancia everyone still thinks of is long gone. Lancia could stop making new cars tomorrow and it would hardly matter, because in every significant way “real” Lancias haven’t been in production for a long, long time.
Nissan isn’t like Lancia, though. Nissan deserves to be saved. It’s not like Nissan had a golden age that they’ve been riding the threadbare laurels of for decades; Nissan is a company that has proven, time and time again, that it can do something that may be one of the most wonderful things a carmaker can do: surprise us.
Just take a minute and think about this; I’m not talking about a carmaker that only makes “exciting” or exotic or whatever cars, like a Lotus or Bugatti or something, I mean a company that manages to crank out thousands and thousands of good, everyday cars and then, seemingly out of nowhere, comes up with something really special.
How many times has Nissan done that? Think about the Z-Car, for example. Around 1969, Nissan was mostly making economy sedans and pickup trucks, and then they came out with an affordable sports car that had the the look and feel of a Jaguar E-Type but with the advantage of being able to put more miles on the road than on the bed of a tow truck.
I suppose as far as surprises go, a sports car isn’t really a shocking one, but when Nissan does that, they tend to do it right. You could take the GT-R as another example of this; who was expecting 2007 Nissan, makers of minivans and Altimas and Sentras, to come up with something as potent and bonkers as the GT-R?
It’s hard to overestimate the impact of the GT-R. This was a car that cost a literal fraction of competing cars from Porsche and Ferrari and Lamborghini, and yet managed to beat them in so many ways. This is a car that started at under $100,000 and set Nurburgring records in stock form, with Porsche getting so bent out of shape about it that they accused Nissan of cheating. The GT-R changed the sports car world, and it came from a place no one expected.
Nissan built the GT-R. Just let that sink in a little. Nissan. And they also built the incredible Skyline GT-Rs that came before. NISSAN.
Nissan surprises in weirder ways, too. I’m not just talking about taking absurd styling risks in cars like the Juke – though it’s worth remembering Nissan absolutely did that, too – but I mean genuinely strange and wonderful and surprising things like Nissan’s whole Pike Factory experiment.
You remember the Pike cars, right? Nissan just decided, what the hell, let’s take some proven platforms and drivetrains and clothe them in deeply, delightfully weird bodies and interiors, and sell those cars as limited run “boutique cars.” And they were all amazing! Each one of these absurd little cars has become an icon in its own right, with all of the charm of dozens of classic iconic cars mixed together into one delicious car-shake.
Even better, they’re all actually usable cars! I know multiple people with Pike cars now, S-Cargos and Figaros, and yes, even me, with my Pao acting as my daily driver.
That little car has proven to be one of the most reliable cars I’ve ever owned, and that’s after hitting two deer in the damn thing. I love it. What other carmaker has done something like this, at any time? Made a whole sub-brand of affordable, usable, and reliable limited run idiosyncratically designed cars? They didn’t have to do this at all. They could have made one of these models, and it would have been amazing. But the Pike Factory was more than that, and I’m not sure any other mainstream carmaker has ever really matched that remarkable experiment.
Even after the Japanese Bubble era that likely was a big factor in making the Pike cars possible, Nissan still made surprises happen. Take the Murano Cross Cabriolet that we’ve just been having so much fun with:
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The CrossCab is a car that makes precisely zero sense; a two-door convertible version of a mass-market AWD crossover was not on any product planner’s radar until Nissan decided that this improbable thing should exist. I’d suspect that if you took all the money the CrossCab made Nissan and added $5 to that amount, you’d probably only have to borrow about $3 to $4 if you wanted to buy a Whopper with cheese. But that didn’t stop Nissan, because that’s what Nissan does.
Or, hell, I just remembered the Leaf! Tesla gets all the credit, but it’s worth remembering that Nissan was really the first to bring a modern, affordable practical electric car to market with the Leaf in 2010. Another surprise.
It’s not all that Nissan does, of course. These surprises and gleefully weird cars and world-beating sportscars just punctuate what they mostly do, the gleaming golden corn kernels in the healthy, solid stool of the company. What Nissan usually does is make admirably competent and unassuming cars. Remember our 375,000-mile ex-NYC taxi? That was a Nissan, and it proved to be shockingly reliable even with a CVT transmission everyone was sure would explode on us somewhere in the middle of America.
But it didn’t. In fact, that little NV200 (a great taxi, I might add — efficient and well-packaged — a far better design than the Crown Victoria) managed to get all the way across the continent with out any major mechanical issues whatsoever. After years and years of hard service as a taxi. It was the very definition of a workhorse, and fundamentally, that’s what Nissan makes.
Along the same lines, Nissan feels like the only company that still even pretends to give a brace of BMs about the low-end of the car market. While so many other carmakers are abandoning their entry-level options, Nissan just recently announced an all-new version of their third cheapest car (which is still cheaper than many carmaker’s cheapest car), the Sentra, and Nissan remains one of the very few carmakers in America to offer a new car starting at under $20,000, the Versa.
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[Ed Note: The 2009 5-speed Versa was insanely cheap and actually really good, as I show above. -DT]
They’ve always been like this (I’ve even brought it up before), making inexpensive cars that managed to retain some level of fun and dignity. That was practically the whole ethos of their former incarnation as Datsun, with dirt-cheap but fun and efficient cars like the Honey Bee:
…or the legendary B-210:
Some of these inexpensive cars were even genuinely interesting and happily strange in their own right, like this Cherry Coupé: 
[Ed Note: This is not an exhaustive list. The 510, the Fairlady, the XTerra, the Frontier, the Titan — there are lots of great Nissans from the distant and recent past. Heck, even some modern Nissans aren’t bad, with quite a few coming in under $30K at a time when affordable cars are few and far between. -DT].
Nissan gives a shit about inexpensive cars still. It’s part of their DNA, and I think this is incredibly important. And I haven’t even really mentioned Nissan’s trucks or off-road vehicles, but those are a big factor, too.
I’m not under any illusions about Nissan. In fact, I’d never even thought of myself as a Nissan fan, generally, because I’m not really someone who gets enamored by brands, but more by individual cars themselves. But as I started to think about some of the significant cars I’ve interacted with positively this year – the NV200 taxi, the CrossCab, my Pao – I realized that they’re all Nissans, and all surprisingly and excitingly different, and have some really divergent characters and strengths.
Current Nissan is not in a great place. Other than the admirable fact that they offer some genuinely affordable options, their lineup isn’t a standout in any real way, and just based on the cars they currently offer, if they went away tomorrow, it would hardly matter, as there’s little they’re bringing to the table that isn’t already there, and often better. And their current miserable fortunes reflect this.
Lots of people seem to agree with this grim assessment. Take our pals over at The Old Site, for example. who quoted a Bloomberg report on the company:
“The automaker’s operating profit plunged last quarter by an alarming 99%, leading management to lower their outlook for the year ending in March by 12% to ¥500 billion ($3.5 billion). The company also trimmed its full-year sales target to 3.65 million units.
Equity investors are clearly concerned — Nissan’s shares are down 27% this year — and credit analysts are starting to pen reports with alarming headlines. S&P Global cut Nissan’s credit rating to junk in March of last year.”
Nissan’s premium brand, Infiniti, isn’t doing any better, as reported by Automotive News:
“Financial data obtained by Automotive News shows that Infiniti stores had an average net loss of $79,581 in the first nine months of 2024, compared with a profit of $421,169 a year earlier. Dealership return on sales fell to minus 0.3 percent in the first nine months, from 1.3 percent in 2023.”
If you prefer your doomsaying about Nissan in video form, there’s plenty of options there, too:
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All of this is being noticed by regular people, even Nissan fans, as well; this is from Reddit’s r/Nissan group, where one user summarizes Nissan’s plight with somber clarity:
“The vast majority of the line up is completely uninspiring. For example, the VQ v6 they use in most of their v6 powered models is 30 years old now. It’s showing it’s age, even with the various updates, the other manufacturers have better options. They have the wonderful VR series, but they’re only putting them in top line vehicles. They need to trickle that down into the lower ranges.
They have no viable hybrids, they aren’t even doing an eco-boost kinda thing using smaller engines with turbos for better economy and usually more fun to boot.”
Uninspiring. That kind of just sums it all up.
But here’s the thing: It doesn’t have to be that way. I don’t think I realized it until I sat down to actually write this, but I believe in Nissan. They’re a company that has proven themselves, time and time again, to not just deliver, but to deliver things we didn’t even realize we wanted or needed. Nissan fails plenty, sure, but I think that’s what made them great. They were a company that made practical, useful cars and yet still took the time to take risks, to try something unexpected, to fail, sure, but also sometimes to succeed, wildly. Or some mix of both.
Nissan is saving because I believe those qualities are still in there, somewhere, buried under forgettable crossovers and SUVs. I think a re-born Nissan could be one that treats lower-income buyers with dignity and respect and gives them honestly good and engaging options, and still sometimes pulls something wild and crazy out of their ass.
I want that Nissan back. That Nissan, if it really is still in there, deserves it.
The more options in the market, the better.
Nissan isn’t doing well right now but their presence still has an effect on the other automakers, particularly on the low end of the market. Losing Nissan would allow stagnation by taking pressure off those like Kia/Hyundai who have been putting in a lot of effort to improve.
I’d like to see Nissan bounce back if they can make a worthy effort.
If not, so be it, but the “what could have been” hypotheticals will go on for decades.
Obviously the solution is to merge with Stellantis to make a new doomed company with another new name and even more doomed brands.
The American dealers could use the AMC brand.
I do think that Nissan makes some pretty compelling vehicles. Sure, not all of them stand out, but there’s still meat on the bones as it were.
Much of the more recent hate about the company comes from their powertrains. Many of the engine designs are a bit antiquated at this point, and they bet all their money on a 1000:1 longshot horse – the infamous CVT.
The CVT is why their ICE vehicles are littered about in every rental car lot in America, and probably elsewhere too.
I mean sure, the big Altima energy formula is a giant 4-cyl mated to a bag of crusty rubber bands from the rubbish bin at Staples, and that has enticed many a hooligan to be nuts with them and continue to make poor life decisions beyond buying a car with a CVT.
They’ve been spending their money in the complete wrong way, garbage like the pointless variable compression engine anyone could have predicted would be a disaster, but even if it wasn’t, customers—especially at the lower end and particularly regular car buyers—DGAF about mechanical tech unless it doesn’t work and costs them money. Where were the hybrids? They had licensed Toyota’s tech in the past and they have EV experience. Why didn’t they replace the Jatco with something better? How many former customers did that alone lose as repeats? how many friends and family did they tell about their problematic Nissan? What I think they need now is style to stand out, something to draw people in besides financing everyone, but not something massively overpriced, niche, and reportedly mediocre to drive like the Z. Make them cheap enough that people will roll the dice because of the style or other standout feature and deliver them a decent experience and solid reliability. It doesn’t even have to be the best in class, it doesn’t need the newest tech or the best engine, just something that appeals a bit to emotion and is a few grand cheaper to make up for any shortcomings. Give it Carplay and the AA, but keep the buttons for controls people use while driving. Their CVTs gave the technology a bad name nearly singlehandedly and those need to go away. Basically, they need to make mainstream Toyotas with more personality and a couple grand cheaper, what Ford nearly did in the 2010s with the Focus except for that terrible DCT (DCT aside, the Focus was miles ahead of the Corolla). Or even partner with Toyota again and add character or at least a more comfortable interior—they’ve traditionally been pretty good at making seats while Toyota is hopeless at it. Advertising Toyota drivetrains might also get people to consider them. The new EV looks decent for the price and for what it is, but that’s not enough and I think that it’s probably too late.
I agree. One more thing: Add a 10 year 100k mile warranty. That allowed people to keep forgiving Hyundai and Kia’s reliability woes; it could work for Nissan.
People who buy Nissans are often desperate for a new car with a warranty. They often need to roll over negative equity from their last busted car. Make it worth the money to roll over that negative equity.
I mean, this is what Toyota tried to do with Scion. But where Toyota tried for a few years and gave up, Nissan routinely introduces oddly interesting cars. You mentioned the Juke, but there was also the Nissan Cube.
Honestly, at this point Nissan should seriously consider licensing drivetrains from either Toyota or Honda. Build the reliable limited run idiosyncratically designed cars that Toyota refuses to produce. I would seriously consider buying a quirky Nissan design with a Toyota drivetrain. I would not (sorry to that guy in the comments) consider buying a Nissan with a Jatco CVT.
Ghosn was a big part of Nissan’s failure. He was the ultimate CEO who cut all product development investment, slashed costs, and condemned Nissan to building junk indefinitely.
I would rather see Nissan survive than a number of other car makers, but there is no doubt that there is no reason to save them. Chrysler should have died many times over, and the only thing that came out of saving them is a lineup that is 100% garbage. GM and Ford could have gone away without being missed as well.
Is that true though? Nissan would have gone bust the first time in 1999 if he and Renault hadn’t stepped in, and under him cars like the 350Z, R35 GT-R, and D40 Navara were still well-engineered and well-respected. Despite reliability woes, his reign also made the X-Trail/Rogue, Sentra, Qashqai, and Altima into global best-sellers.
Nissan lost favor through a million small bad decisions, of which Ghosn oversaw many, but probably one of their worst decisions was getting rid of him entirely.
I’m mixed on it. I used to be firmly in the let them fail camp. I still hope they free Mitsubishi to do there thing freely or with a better partner. Maybe selling their stake can find their recovery. But they are admitting they messed up and seem to be trying to change things. 20 years of terirble cars is not an easy thing to forgive.
Cheap decent bevs might be at least part of their way forward. The leaf is sometimes called the cockroach of Bev they just seem to keep going until they the battery gets so degradated it needs to be replaced. That the leaf has that reputation while the rest of Nissian has the opposite is interesting and shows they know how to make something last they just didn’t.
If we’re worried about saving every car maker who *used to* make good cars, we’d have a lot of car makers to save. Just because they made great cars in the past doesn’t give them a pass for today.
And note that Ford only makes “one damn car” and GM is headed that way once the Caddies go all EV/SUV, leaving the Corvette. Only the foreigners want to make actual *cars* any more. I mean, I guess they know what sells and what doesn’t of their own fleets, but how come other car makers can build actual cars and still (presumably) make money and they can’t (or maybe it’s just not *enough* money)?
Honestly how many mainstream automakers consistently have all killer/no filler lineups?
Look back at the golden age of muscle cars and see how many lame penalty boxes, dad wagons and brown sedans cluttered the Big Three’s lineup.
Nissan has always had great cars and lame cars in its lineup. So have the rest of them.
What they probably SHOULD do is pull out of the US market and just sort things out with China. Americans will never get over the Ghosn years.
Nissan could make the perfect car and it will still trail the rest because their reputation is shot.
I won’t even talk about this from an enthusiast standpoint: I’d bet if Nissan falls, that’s going to be quite a shock to the world-wide automotive sector.
I think it still has a place in the auto market. Granted, I think Stellantis and majority of its brands still have a place, but Nissan disappearing would be a wild thing to experience.
“It’s not like Nissan had a golden age that they’ve been riding the threadbare laurels of for decades”
Maybe not now but I would argue that between the years of 2007 and 2020 they were riding the laurels of the golden age of Japanese US imports that was the 1990s.
Nissan’s cars are actually good for the most part. Far far better than anything Detroit can cough up.
The Altima got its reputation because it’s almost as good as the Accord and Camry but priced far lower.
Unlike Honda and Toyota, Nissan made the mistake of flooding the market with fleets sales. Which is why so many Altimas ended up in the wrong hands on the used market.
Autopian should do a poll for the least loved current Nissan vs the least loved Chrysler/Dodge. It can be called “The Race to the Bottom”
On the whole Nissan could go under, get bailed out, go under again and still not come close to Chrysler’s abysmal track record.
Lancia made such successful (ha!) cars that if FIAT hadn’t come to their rescue (circa 1970?) that the brand would have been long gone by now.
I don’t know how Nissan has lasted as long as they have. Perhaps they’re more successful in markets outside the US. I know it’s still a popular brand in Mexico, for example.
But just because a brand has a good history doesn’t mean that they should be saved.
The opposite. Lancia is more worthwhile saving. They’ve been a company since 1906. They have the innovations, and the racing bloodline. Still complaining about the Lancia of the past being gone? They’ve confirmed the Lancia Integrale, in a new version worthy of its former glory, is on the way. I welcome their re-entrance into WRC to add a few more victories to their already record numbers.
https://www.autoblog.com/news/confirmed-lancia-delta-hf-integrale-returning
Sorry – No.
No poorly run entity – regardless of it’s occasionally interesting history – is worth saving.
The C Suite at Nissan couldn’t manage to pull off a merger w/ Honda because of their misplaced pride.
Pride before the Fall.
So long, Nissan, Stellantis, JLR…
By this logic GM, Ford, Stellantis, VW Group, nearly all EV startups, Harley Davidson, Aston Martin and Jaguar all deserve to die.
GM – Definitely. More than once.
Ford – They’ve never gone bankrupt, but….
Stellantis – I included them in my list.
VW – Yeah, they’re rapidly heading in that direction.
Nearly all EV startups – Well, most poorly run EV startups haven’t lasted long, have they?
Harley – Definitely.
Aston Martin – Oh, they’ve been at death’s door more than a few times.
Jaguar is part of JLR – and yeah, they’re toast.
I like the looks of the 2026 Sentra generally, and it can’t help make me wish there would be an SE-R version, with a real manual. Talk about a cool halo model that might get more enthusiast attention.
Meh. Nissan has only occasionally made cars that are even remotely interesting. And then usually ruined them in succeeding generations, and not for some time – even the GT-R is *ancient* at this point.
Not much of value will be lost if Nissan takes a final dirt map. Lower income buyers can just buy better used cars from other makers. I’d infinitely rather have a used Camry than a new Altima. And that is true for every single comparable product those two automakers produce. The GT-R is unique, but I have no interest in those to start with.
Versa SE-R Spec V! Let’s do this.
Beat me to it, but absolutely! It would actually make a better halo model than the Z, which I don’t think a lot of people beyond us here are really aware of.
Literally nobody aspires to own a hotted up Versa.