The brand with nine lives: why Nissan is the one to watch if a new hybrid or electric car, SUV or ute is in your future | Opinion

Here are two facts.

For over 60 years Nissan has been on a rollercoaster. And for the remaining six years of this decade, Nissan is set to be on a roll.

Not that you’d know it with the Japanese brand’s long-term shrinking market share and – until late last year – a worthy but dull and dated core model range.

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Frankly, 2022 was a disaster for Nissan in Australia, undermined by critically low stock on one hand and endless delays getting a move-on with the next-generation Qashqai, X-Trail, Pathfinder and – as we’ll soon see – others to market.

Barely achieving 26,000 sales, Nissan volume tumbled 36 per cent compared to 2021 levels, slipping out of the top 10 for the first time since Menzies was our PM and The Beatles were touring. Mazda managed to sell more CX-5s alone last year. Qashqai supply was down to a trickle, X-Trail nearly halved and Navara ute crashed by one-third.

But the brand behind the first Japanese car in history to break out (the Datsun 113 Bluebird of the 1950s) is a survivor with vision and guts, demonstrating time and again throughout a turbulent 90-year history that if anybody can get knocked down but then get back up again, Nissan can. With apologies to Chumbawamba.

So, looking forward to the future but with an eye on the past for understanding and context, here are myriad reasons why Nissan’s renaissance has already begun.

e-Power is here finally

The fourth-generation (T33) X-Trail is already a critical hit. And it’s about to go stellar with the e-Power option.

This is a battery electric-driven version backed up by a downsized turbo-petrol engine powered range-extender. The perfect stepping stone to a true EV compared to, say, Toyota’s hybrid systems because the axle(s) are always driven by an electric motor(s). Best of both worlds stuff.

The fourth-generation (T33) X-Trail is already a critical hit.

The smaller related Qashqai is up for it next. That’s over one-third of the entire Australian new-vehicle market covered right there within the coming weeks, while most Nissans moving forward are also set to adopt e-Power, just as Australians are clamouring for this very type of technology. These are said to include the Juke small SUV and Navara ute.

That’s about 70 per cent of market coverage right there with e-Power.

Future product, product, product!

In the end, it’s all about providing something people want and not just need. A Don Draper truism for sure, but also the foundation for Nissan’s prosperity in the future. Fresh new models.

We’ve already seen the renewal of brand pillars like Qashqai, X-Trail and Pathfinder. And it’s widely acknowledged that a Patrol successor is not too far away at all, to take on the indomitable Toyota LandCruiser.

Next up is Ariya – a next-gen all-electric SUV that takes the fight right up to heavy hitters like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 and Tesla Model Y. Except the Nissan EV is a bit more medium-SUV-ish, as well as premium inside.

The all-electric SUV Ariya will go up against EVs like the Ioniq 5, EV6 and Model Y.

Meanwhile, and with a surprisingly heartfelt nod to the past for such a formidable sports car, the 2023 Z Coupe seems to embody what the brand has long been and what it still can achieve – an emotional, visceral driving experience. This is a focus that will be honed by performance sub-brand Nismo, as it embarks on electrified bespoke sports cars.

Then there’s the upcoming all-new Navara. Nissan has as legitimate an ownership claim on the ute as any rival including the HiLux, with a continuous line stretching back to 1955.

Now a new one’s imminent (well, from 2024 we hear), building on eight decades of experience with a larger, roomier and more refined package that’s believed to be hybrid/EV ready. Look out Ranger.

The 2023 Z Coupe provides an emotional, visceral driving experience.

Plus, and as we reported on recently, Nissan is investigating a sub-Navara ute in concert with Alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi, and likely to be derived from future Dacia models, but with a unique Nissan dual-cab spin that draws on the brand’s heritage in this area. See the Nissan Surf-Out concept of 2021 for a hint of what this might look like.

Nissan learned the hard way that buyers aren't going to be dreaming of Tiidas and Almeras and it won't make that mistake again.

And speaking of experience…

Nissan is investigating a sub-Navara ute in concert with Alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi.

The mother of the modern EV

Nissan is the only mainstream carmaker in the world – legacy or otherwise – that is not still in its first generation of electrification platform.

Think about this statement. Nissan has put in the incredibly bold and brave hard yards of designing, engineering and bringing to production a comparatively affordable EV for global markets back when nobody else had the ability and/or guts to. Not Kia or Hyundai. Not Volvo. And certainly not Tesla. Back before Gaga was wearing meat dressers on the red carpet. Back before Gangnam Style.

The 2010 Leaf weaned the world onto EVs.

And all while facing a doubting world just waiting for it to wither. But the 2010 Leaf didn’t. It literally weaned the world onto EVs, before the infrastructure came, before things became standardised. Before consumers learned how to use them. Before the Tesla Model 3 dethroned it as history’s best-selling electric car late last decade.

The original Leaf wasn’t just about having an eye on the future. This was jumping feet-first into an eye of a storm and coming out of it with a vehicle as incredibly accomplished in its own way as the Ariya is widely reported to be today. This is experience and expertise earned the purest way. Respect.

Nissan learned the hard way that buyers aren't going to be dreaming of Tiidas and it won't make that mistake again.

More EVs…

Nissan announced some time ago that there are 15 additional EVs in the pipeline for the end of this decade, to join the slew of e-Power EV-first hybrids that are finally materialising in Australia.

We hear that a Europe-only Kia Seltos-sized EV is not too far away, to bring all that electric know-how Nissan possesses to the people at a (slightly) more-affordable price.

There are 15 additional Nissan EVs in the pipeline for the end of this decade.

Show cars and concepts from the recent past like the Hang-Out and Chill-Out drop massive clues as to what we can expect in these spaces – yep, there will likely be more than one variety of compact electric crossover.

Then there’s the coming Micra – a claimed 400km-range Toyota Yaris-sized EV that’s based on the exciting Renault 5 EV (that’s been confirmed for Australia, by the way).

To that end, to help keep these affordable, a near-billion-dollar investment with Renault in manufacturing facilities in India has just been announced, with global export in mind.

There will likely be more than one variety of compact electric crossover in the Nissan lineup.

The most elastic band err brand in history

No brand in the world has just been through the experience of successfully making and offering models as disparate.

You may still theoretically walk into a Nissan showroom somewhere in the world today and literally touch models costing as little as $12,990 (Micra ST manual) and $400,000 (GT-R Nismo SV) with outstretched arms – as well as a $25,000 Navara ST cab-chassis and $60,000 Leaf EV with splayed-out legs. Breathtaking breadth of choice.

The upcoming Micra has a claimed range of 400km.

It is no longer in an unequal relationship

This month, Renault and Nissan signed an agreement that evened-up a lop-sided relationship that had the French carmaker exert the majority of control over its Japanese partner.

Along with third partner Mitsubishi, the upshot will be a more-even distribution of power, as well as a more appropriate re-allocation of projects according to each members’ expertise, resources and experience.

And speaking of experience AGAIN…

The 300ZX was a big hit in the late 80s.

What a back-catalogue!

Humans can’t help but don a pair of rose-coloured glasses and look back at past hits. And Nissans back catalogue is a stunning carousel of classic memories!

The Datsun Fairlady of the ‘60s was the first proof that Japan could outsmart Britain’s MG. The 1600 510 of 1967 is widely considered to be the world’s first great Japanese car, even though its styling was largely Italian and suspension layout BMW-esque. The point is, like Madonna’s music in her heyday, this was inspiration repackaged and done right for the masses.

The Datsun Fairlady of the ‘60s was the first proof that Japan could outsmart Britain’s MG.

Other greats followed, including but not limited to the Datsun 240Z, generations of Skylines as a result of the Prince Motor Company take-over in the ‘60s, the late 80s heyday of Silvias, 300ZXs, European Primera and K11/K12 Micras, as well as the epochal original Leaf EV.

And there's no denying that the modern crossover owes a debt to the 2007 Nissan Qashqai (Dualis originally here in Oz). Its immense influence is still being felt today.

Feel free to add more that we’ve forgotten in the comments below.

The modern crossover owes a debt to the 2007 Nissan Qashqai.

Strict financial discipline

Despite the ongoing effects of both the semi-conductor shortages and Covid-19-related shutdowns in China, Nissan is making money again on a global scale, with what it calls “strict financial discipline”.

The latter follows several restructures after the high-profile termination of infamous CEO Carlos Ghosn late last decade.

In summary them, circling back to the rollercoaster metaphor, Nissan has somehow managed to reach an incredibly difficult peak of an uphill section with incredible survival-instinct momentum garnered over half a century, and is about to crest the top.

Now’s the time to enjoy the ride in store.