Word: nissan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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These advantages have been accruing since 1983, when the first transplant factories, built by Honda and Nissan, began producing sedans in Marysville, Ohio, and Smyrna, Tenn., respectively. But if the stakes were high then, they're even higher now. The Big Three's overall North American market share slipped to 61.7% last year, an all-time low, and it has declined an additional 1.6 points in the first quarter of 2003. Toyota is just a couple of market-share points from passing Chrysler, the smallest of the Big Three. Though it is narrowing the quality gap, Detroit today squeezes almost...
...Nissan's strategy, championed by turnaround CEO Carlos Ghosn, exemplifies the latest transplant wave: a direct assault on Detroit's most profitable models. The Titan was designed by a California-based team of mostly Americans, who Nissan thought could best understand the U.S. truck crowd's preferences. About 85% of the Titan's components come from U.S. suppliers. And it will be built in the pickup-loving South, which Nissan hopes will add credibility. Says Ghosn (pronounced Goan): "The market is sensitive to the fact that this product is assembled...
...estimated $2,000 profit on each of its F-Series pickups, providing one of its fattest margins for a high-volume vehicle. The North American market for pickups is about 3 million a year. And while Ford will launch a redesigned F-150 this summer, Ghosn is confident that Nissan's investment in the Titan (whose platform will be used by other vehicles) will pay off. "Each time competitors enter a segment, profits have a tendency to go down," he acknowledges. "But the truck segment will remain one of the most profitable...
Chrysler, Ford and GM take an average of eight more hours to make a vehicle at their North American plants than do Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Nissan is fastest at 18 hours a vehicle, and Chrysler (the U.S.-based unit of DaimlerChrysler) is slowest at 31 hours, according to the Harbour Report, an annual productivity guide. These times translate into an extra expense of $300 to $500 a vehicle for the Big Three as compared with the transplants, which in a tough market can kill already slim profit potential...
Doing flexible assembly well is a lot tougher and, initially, more expensive than it may sound. Of the $1.5 billion Nissan has invested in its new plant in Canton, Miss., just north of Jackson, about a third went into making the operation as flexible as possible. At full capacity, the Canton plant can produce 400,000 vehicles a year, including sedans, minivans, SUVs and pickups...