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In a new interview with Bloomberg, Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa stated that the automaker's aging lineup is the next order of business on his agenda to turn around the flailing brand, as it faces the eyes of bad fortune. The new chief executive told the financial publication at Nissan's Yokohama headquarters that the automaker is entering "the phase in which we start rolling out a lot of new cars," adding that it is seeking to "significantly" shorten the development process and reduce the bureaucratic red tape preventing fresh, new products from reaching the market in a timely manner.
“This is going to help us with having the right cadence of product and reacting a bit quicker to allow us to cope with all the shifting trends in the market,” Espinosa told Bloomberg.
Already, Nissan is set to release a revamped version of the Leaf electric vehicle, while new versions of regional favorites like the Elgrand MPV and Roox kei cars are in the pipeline. Additionally, a new version of the Sentra sedan is due later this year, and a plug-in hybrid version of the popular Rogue crossover SUV is due in early 2026.
According to Espinosa, Nissan's efforts to speed up development and launch times began more than a year and a half ago, when he served in a product planning and global strategy role before taking the helm as CEO in April this year. He stated that its efforts have shown some traction, especially as it had taken a leaf out of its experiences in China, where local rivals like BYD can adapt a concept car into a production model in less than two years.
Currently, it takes Nissan more than 50 months to develop a production model from a concept car; however, it aims to reduce that time frame to 37 months.
“We are pushing to do everything we can because we need to improve the performance of the company,” Espinosa said. “The only way of becoming better at coping with these things is to be quick, and this is what we are working on now.”
The Bloomberg interview with Espinosa comes as the company is well into its Re:Nissan restructuring plans to reorganize and rekindle itself in an effort to stay out of the red. Back in May, the carmaker said it would reduce its headcount by 20,000 jobs and shut seven factories worldwide to cull its production capacity. Since then, it has formally announced plans to shut the aging Civac plant in Mexico and the historic flagship Oppama plant in Japan.
Additionally, it is also seeking to sell other assets, including the very Yokohama headquarters where Espinosa conducted his interview. On August 23, a report emerged showing that a Japanese real estate arm of the Hudson Yards-based firm had offered around ¥90 billion ($610 million) in a sale-leaseback agreement for Nissan's 22-story office building.
To make matters worse, Nissan reported a big loss of 115.7 billion yen ($782 million) during the first quarter of its fiscal year from April to June on July 30. This marks the fourth straight quarter of losses for the automaker, a far cry from the profit of 28.5 billion yen it reported during the same period last year. Furthermore, one estimate cited by Nikkei Asia denotes that the automaker's impairment losses and job reduction expenses could reach as high as $3.4 billion.
"Compared to the era of former President Makoto Uchida, who did not touch any fundamental reforms, this is 100 times better," a Nissan source told the Japanese business publication. "But this is still not a normal company."
Although it sounds good that Nissan's new "Car Guy CEO" may be doing well by committing to bringing out new models of its cars as soon as possible, it is impossible to discount that it is coming at a time when confidence in the automaker is slipping.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Mercedes-Benz offloaded a 3.8% stake in Nissan held by its pension trust for 47.8 billion yen (~$324.6 million). In a statement to Reuters, a Mercedes spokesperson said that the Nissan stake, which was transferred to its pension assets in 2016, was not strategically significant and described the sale as cleaning out its portfolio. Though Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa can be recognized for his quick actions to steer Nissan towards smoother ground, he will have a long way to go from here if Nissan is meant to stay for the long term.
This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Sep 12, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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