Word: ghosn
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...however, that won't be so easy, since success seems to have tamed Nissan's tolerance for design risks. Nissan's latest models aren't as distinctive as the first round Ghosn launched. For the latter, Ghosn gave Shiro Nakamura, the director of design, a mandate to be different, to craft a bold look for the brand. Nakamura delivered with models like the 350Z and Murano. In this latest cycle, designers weren't given as much free rein, according to James Sanfilippo, an analyst with Automotive Marketing Consultants. "They were worried about screwing up a good thing," he says...
Nissan may be losing the technology race too. The company plans to launch its first hybrid model next year, about a decade after Toyota put hybrids on the market. Nissan's tardiness is no accident; Ghosn has long believed that hybrids are money pits for manufacturers. Still does. "I'm skeptical of the business case," he says. Nonetheless, Nissan is playing catch-up in a hot automotive area. Hybrid sales overall are booming, up 23% this year, and even Porsche and BMW are getting into...
...here's the dilemma: If Nissan doesn't knock out consumers with beautiful, sculpted steel or impress them with new technologies, how will it stand out? Some analysts think it won't. "Ghosn came in and turned a carmaker on the verge of bankruptcy into a company with operating margins around 8%," says Tatsuo Yoshida, an auto analyst with UBS in Tokyo. "He turned the company into a sustainable one. That is a huge improvement, but that is perhaps the limit of Nissan...
...Ghosn, of course, thinks Nissan isn't anywhere near hitting its speed limit. Those slumping quality scores may have slowed sales, for instance, but the problems are being addressed. Nissan has streamlined the way it deals with quality issues, creating teams to focus on specific complaints, like squeaks and rattles or wind noise, and nip them in the planning stage or on the assembly line. The Armada and Titan are scoring better in Consumer Reports surveys. "We're putting in the resources," Ghosn says. "It takes time, but we're working on it." He's also promising to smooth...
...what if he doesn't make his numbers? Ghosn has in the past declared that he would resign if he fell short. He's not going so far now, saying only that his job is in the hands of shareholders. "The day you're stretched too thin is the final chapter of your book," he says. "But you're usually the last person to know that...