Nissan, which everyone kind of thought might have been toast in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn debacle, has instead seemingly found new footing, moving on from the Ghosn plan of volume to something more focused, especially on EVs. So much then, reportedly, for new engines outside of the U.S.
The report is from Nikkei, which does not name its sources but, given how logical this is, there’s not much reason for it to be in doubt. Nikkei gets straight to the point:
Nissan Motor will end development of new internal combustion engines in all its major markets except the U.S. and focus its resources on electric vehicles, becoming the first major Japanese automaker to make such a break, Nikkei has learned.
Nissan has already stopped developing gasoline engines for sale in Europe.
Limited development will continue on gasoline engines for the U.S. market, mainly those used in pickup trucks, where it expects a certain level of demand.
Nissan will continue, to be clear, to work on engines it already makes.
Nissan will phase out development of gasoline engines for the Chinese and Japanese markets. But it will continue to develop engines for hybrid vehicles.
As gasoline vehicles remain on the roads, Nissan will improve existing engine designs rather than develop new ones. Plants that produce engines will remain open, and no job cuts are planned at this stage, people familiar with the company’s plans said.
It is sort of funny that Nissan will keep making new engines for trucks in the American market, because the Titan and Frontier have largely been failures, with just 27,406 sold last year in the U.S., in addition to 60,693 Frontiers, peanuts compared to Ford, Chevy, or Ram. They are, however, apparently still so important to Nissan’s future that they get a carveout, a very American thing for Nissan to be doing. There were so many of us worried about the Titan, too.