Trade News – Page 737

Uchida: Nissan's return to growth requires patience

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida urges patience with his plan to elevate brand value but promises that the repositioning will bridge Nissan to an era of revived growth.

The change won’t come overnight, he conceded. But by controlling costs now and continuing to invest in new products, he said, Nissan will be poised to take off and “restore” its rightful status.

In the interim, close communication with dealers will be more important than ever, given the wildly fluctuating market realities experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to restore ourselves. I’m always saying that Nissan is not at its level, that we have a lot more potential,” Uchida said in an interview at Nissan Motor Co.’s global headquarters here.

“We should be able to restore ourselves in the next two years.”

Nissan is bracing for its biggest operating loss ever this fiscal year. Under an updated business plan called Nissan Next, Uchida wants to…

Disaster planning needs to address EVs' limitations

Natural disasters are a part of life in the United States. Hurricanes — such as Laura, which hammered the Gulf Coast last month — along with wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes, flash floods and derechos bring death and injuries, massive destruction and economic devastation.

Human beings and our organizational structures try to plan and prepare as best they can for these eventualities. In regions of the country prone to storms — such as the Gulf and Atlantic coasts — evacuations are a part of life.

Which brings us to the electric vehicle, and its limitations: restricted range, scarcity of charging infrastructure and vagaries of the U.S. power grid.

While EVs offer a panoply of environmental and operational advantages to their owners, mass evacuation — say, of the type required when Hurricane Irma struck Florida three years ago, putting millions on the road for hundreds of miles in days of endless bumper-to-bumper traffic — is not their strong suit.

…

Subaru turns up the heat in the Sunbelt

DETROIT — A decade ago, toward the beginning of Subaru of America's remarkable streak of sales records, the automaker identified one region that would be critical to the brand's success.

The Sunbelt.

Unlike the Northeast and Northwest's sometimes harsh climates and challenging terrains, which were natural selling points for Subaru's all-wheel-drive models, the Sunbelt was not an area where large numbers of consumers were drawn to the brand.

Subaru set out to change its Sunbelt fortunes by playing the long game. Today, it's bigger and stronger with a broader product range and targeted marketing, and it is winning a big chunk of business in the region.

The Sunbelt, defined by the automaker as 13 states as well as Southern California, accounted for just roughly 15.4 percent of the brand's retail sales in 2010, according to Subaru.

Despite the Sunbelt including two of the country's most populous states, Texas and Florida, as well as the most …

To teach financial skills, start early

TO THE EDITOR:

I couldn't agree more with Kyle Birch's article "Closing the financial literacy gap" (Aug. 31). I've been in this business since 1981 and have witnessed lots of changes, but the one thing that has remained constant is that many customers just don't understand how money works. I have a unique perspective in that I am in the buy-here, pay-here marketplace. At our company, our goal is to see our customers "get to a better place." To put our money where our mouth is, we have actively supported Junior Achievement in our local schools for the past 10 years. Some of my employees and I teach a seven-week class to eighth-grade students on financial literacy. So many don't get the training at home nor are they getting it at school. The cycle keeps perpetuating because we're wasting our time teaching kids algebra II when we should be teaching money management, banking, insurance and personal growth. If your readers want to make a difference, volunteer to lead a cl…

Japan's smaller players go slow on electrics

While Japan's bigger brands have embraced hybrids and are moving toward battery-electric vehicles, the smaller marques — Subaru, Mazda and Mitsubishi — are taking their time with electrification.

Subaru's Crosstrek plug-in hybrid is its only electrified vehicle in the U.S., relying on Toyota technology. Mazda is building a crossover plant in Alabama with Toyota that will likely produce Mazda's first electrified vehicle when it debuts next year. And Mitsubishi is planning a new generation of its plug-in Outlander.

But otherwise, the three are leaning mostly on their current crop of gasoline engines for product plans.

Subaru and Mazda are offering more power in some models as options for the first time, while Mitsubishi will lean on global partner Nissan for new powertrain technology, including perhaps a future battery-electric vehicle.

For Subaru, the biggest updates coming to the lineup are tied to performance. A freshened subcompact Crosstrek c…

Next-gen Outlander critical for Mitsubishi

Struggling Mitsubishi heads into the 2021 model year with little change to its aging product line. But fresh metal will come next year with a next- generation Outlander midsize crossover that shares a new platform and proportions with the redesigned Nissan Rogue.

The only product update this year will come in the fourth quarter, with an upgrade to the powertrain of the Outlander plug-in hybrid. A bigger gasoline motor and a slightly larger battery — both from the European version — debut in North America for the 2021 model year.

Next year will bring exterior styling changes to the Eclipse Cross compact CUV, which suffers from a polarizing rear design. It will go on sale in the first quarter as a 2022 model, Mitsubishi said.

The Mirage subcompact sedan and hatchback will get a freshened exterior next year. It will go on sale in the first quarter as a 2021 model, the automaker said. The Outlander Sport, a subcompact crossover, is unchanged after it was f…

'There's only one Bob ROOOHHHRRR-man!'

The Bob Rohrman Auto Group has used that familiar tag line for decades in its ubiquitous TV commercials in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Rohrman, who died last week at age 87, appeared as dozens of wacky characters in his ads, from painter Bob Ross and actress "Roberta Rohrmanspoon" to his annual roles as Count Bobula every October and Santa Bob during year-end clearance season.

Here are some of his memorable appearances, as archived by the group's YouTube channel.

Mitsubishi's Osamu Masuko leaves legacy of dramatic changes

TOKYO — Osamu Masuko, the long-serving, soft-spoken chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. who hammered out his company's partnership with Nissan Motor Co., leaves behind a stronger carmaker but one that is still a work in progress after several fitful revival attempts.

Masuko died of heart failure Aug. 27, three weeks after stepping down over health concerns. He was 71. At the time of his retirement, when he took a "special adviser" role, Masuko was one of Japan's oldest and longest-serving automotive chiefs. He led Mitsubishi for 15 years.

Masuko became president of Mitsubishi Motors in 2005 and cycled through various positions at the top, including the CEO and chairman posts, during a pivotal period at the small Japanese player. Masuko hatched numerous plans to reboot the brand's flagging fortunes, oversaw its foray into electrified vehicles and helped pen its 2016 partnership with Nissan.

With Mitsubishi then part of the Renault-N…

Beijing show goes on — but not with execs

SHANGHAI — Delayed from late April, the Beijing auto show is set to begin on Sept. 26, making it the sole survivor, so far, of all the major international auto exhibitions canceled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Whether anyone attends is another matter.

The pandemic has remained largely contained inside China since mid-March, and no new domestic infections had been reported for 18 consecutive days as of Wednesday, Sept. 2.

But there is no way for the Beijing show to escape its impact.

Because of the pandemic and travel restrictions China has imposed, most international automakers have chosen not to send executives to the show, according to a survey of companies by Automotive News.

Among the companies to pass on attending are China's two largest players, Volkswagen Group and General Motors. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and PSA Group also do not plan …

The legacy of Sergio's failed pursuit of GM

*/ The legacy of Sergio's failed pursuit of GM

It's hard to fathom, but at this time in 2015, the big story in Automotive News was Sergio Marchionne's persistent — and fruitless — pursuit of a merger with General Motors.

We were in the midst of publishing a six-part series called "Industry on Trial." In it, we explored the Fiat Chrysler CEO's case that the auto industry as structured was a cash guzzler and that consolidation among its players was the answer.

The series stuck a chord with the boss himself. Amid it all, he invited Automotive News into his secondary offices in downtown Detroit to share his vision. As my now-retired colleague Richard Johnson would later write, it was the "weirdest, wildest, most entertaining interview of my Automotive News life."

In that session, Marchionne laid out his case for why a merger made so much sense. Leo Michael's cartoon at the top of this column — published five years ago tomorr…

Toyota among companies in Japan shuttering plants ahead of typhoon

Hundreds of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate in southern Japan, and companies including Toyota Motor Corp. and Canon Inc. are planning to shutter factories as Typhoon Haishen approaches.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the typhoon may make landfall on Kagoshima prefecture in the southern Kyushu island on Sunday evening. More than 46,000 households were without power in Kagoshima prefecture as of 5 p.m. local time, according to Kyushu Electric Power Company Inc. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said at least 218,000 households have been ordered to evacuate to safety in Okinawa and five of the Kyushu prefectures.

Canon said it will suspend operations at four manufacturing units affecting seven factories in Kyushu on Monday, while Toyota decided to halt three plants in Fukuoka. Daihatsu Motor Co.’s factories in Oita and Fukuoka prefectures will be suspended during morning shift on Monday, company spokesman Kazuki Inoue said.

Son…

AAA’s Greg Brannon pumps the brakes on ADAS (Episode 58)

Greg Brannon, AAA’s director of automotive engineering and industry relations, discusses the results of the auto club's recent study on advanced driver assistance systems, how the technology interacts with pedestrians, and the latest on driver monitoring.

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