Word: nissan
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...also serious about finding a North American partner for his two-headed animal, despite a very public and unsuccessful mating dance with General Motors this summer and fall. Kirk Kerkorian, a large GM shareholder, wanted the flailing auto giant to join the Nissan-Renault family, hoping Le Cost Killer could wield le knife at GM and help boost the stock. Having witnessed the leaps that two former mediocrities like Nissan and Renault could make by partnering, Ghosn found the idea of pooling forces with GM appealing. And he figured GM could help his carmakers save billions of dollars on everything...
...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...
That's why the new Altima and Sentra look more evolutionary than revolutionary. Analysts too are worried that Nissan is losing its styling edge, ceding ground to Honda and Toyota (whose Camry was named Motor Trend's 2007 Car of the Year). "Once you get into the trap of saying 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,' that's very dangerous," says John Casesa, an auto-industry consultant. "Nissan has to innovate to grow...
...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...