The current economic meltdown has resulted in the dramatic drop off of new car sales, but at least one automaker has managed to find a silver lining. Nissan says the timing for the market collapse couldn’t have come at a better time, with the company’s green initiative lining up perfectly with government stimulus packages.
Although the market collapse has resulted in fewer sales, it has also spurred several global governments – including the United States — to offer low-cost loans. The majority of the loans offered revolve around creating new green tech, which falls perfectly in line with Nissan’s current business plan.
“The good news for us is that in seeking liquidity, governments have normally put behind that some kind of green initiative, and we’re in a perfect situation to step up to that,” Andy Palmer, senior vice president and head of product planning at Nissan, told Automotive News.
“We’ve got batteries, and we need government support… It’s kind of a perfect storm. Everything came together at the right time.”
Thanks to its recent green push, Nissan was able to secure a $1.6 billion loan from the U.S. government. The Japanese automaker will use some of that money to convert its Smyrna, Tennessee truck plant to produce a forthcoming electric vehicle while the rest will go towards building a dedicated battery plant. The two plants should give Nissan the capacity to build 150,000 electric vehicles per year. Nissan says its first retail EV will hit dealer showrooms by 2012.
07/08, 2:04 PM
posted by:
Payton Byrd
I just hope Nissan resists hiring all of the laid off GM Spring Hill workers. I hold all UAW members responsible for the current economic situation as it was the UAW, with support from the EPA and Congress, which destroyed the US auto industry.
07/08, 2:36 PM
posted by:
Lariat Luxury Locomotive Liner No.3
^^^Still smoking the weed, huh, PB?
07/08, 3:51 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
If Nissan brings affordable EVs to our shores sooner than anyone else, they will make a killing. However, they need to make a Versa, Sentra, Altima and Maxima EV, not just the Cube.
07/08, 3:57 PM
posted by:
leftwingagenda
he’s smoking something stronger than weed…more like meth, cut with bitterness and hannity commentary…
as an alternative hypothesis, i focus on mismanagement of the auto manufacturers that left them vulnerable to a sharp decline in sales across the board (and a very focused decline on SUVs), due to the epic collapse of the housing market brought about by speculative investment vehicles…ultimately at fault, the repeal of glass-steagal in 1999, under Clinton’s watch, by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and a push toward deregulation pioneered by Reagan…banks, it has been proven, can not regulate themselves…
the housing bubble allowed people to take out bigger and bigger home equity loans based on the fictional value of their homes, and many of those loans were used to buy cars…expensive high-profit SUVs, and as the SUV market tanked as the bubble burst, the mismanaged auto manufacturers who had bet way too strongly on those vehicles ended up getting gut-punched…
blaming the EPA i think is ridiculous, but i agree union contracts were a huge burden that grew relatively uncontrolled…between the union contracts and legacy costs, these companies couldn’t survive the impact of the housing bubble on the auto market…you can’t talk about the failure of the auto companies without factoring the housing crisis, the two are very much related…
07/08, 5:55 PM
posted by:
2WheeledSpeed
I’ll admit the UAW was a part of the problem, but to be so bitter that you would deny UAW members work because of something that was out of their control is well… dumb… maybe you should try not being able to feed yourself and/or your family for a while and see if you still feel the same way.
I agree with most of what leftwing said, I believe that GM and Chrysler in paticular have been poorly run for a long time now and put all their eggs in the truck/SUV market and when gas prices skyrocketed and the economy tanked everyone I knew was running out to sell their big gas guzzlers and buying small cars, primarily Hondas and Toyotas (Whether or not it actually made financial sense). A good friend of mine sold his Dodge Dakota for a Honda Fit, and this man is a die-hard Mopar fan!
It was everyones fault, and it was no ones fault. You can’t find one single person or group to take all the blame, and I certainly wouldn’t single out the average Joe on the assembly line.