At one point, it looked as if Nissan would not survive without Honda‘s intervention, but since Ivan Espinosa took over as CEO on April 1 last year, things are starting to look a lot rosier. Initially, Nissan shareholders were less than impressed with Espinosa, but in the short year that he’s been in charge, he’s made major changes that could ultimately result in more exciting offerings, particularly for enthusiasts. As noted by Automotive News, Nissan announced that it now expects an operating profit of ¥50 billion ($313.8 million) for the fiscal year that ended March 31, a completely different result from its earlier forecast of a ¥60 billion ($376.6 million) loss. The automaker’s net loss forecast has also fallen by over $60 million, so how does this translate to good news for car enthusiasts?
Nissan May Soon Have the Money to Build More Exciting Cars
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Nissan’s new turnaround plan will see it cull 11 models but introduce many others in the years leading up to 2030, and since it was announced last week, the automaker’s top executives have indicated a desire to introduce or revive coupes and convertibles that have been missing from its lineup for years. Among these could be a new Silvia sports car to compete with the likes of the Toyota GR86 and Mazda MX-5 Miata and a new Nissan Z convertible, but in order to make a bet on these two-door niches, Nissan USA product planning boss Ponz Pandikuthira indicated that the company would need to be as successful as possible over the next two years.
Related: American Emissions Rules Are Delaying the Next Nissan GT-R
Developing a worthy rival to the aforementioned sports cars from Toyota and Mazda is neither easy nor cheap, and introducing a Z convertible requires engineering and time. Even once those hurdles are overcome, there’s no guarantee that they will repay their investments with tens of thousands of sales every quarter, but this new financial outlook could be the first step on the path to a place where Nissan can afford to lose a little money on the occasional passion project.
How Nissan Plans to Become Successful Starts with New Products
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Before Nissan has the bandwidth to launch coupes and convertibles, it must first appeal to a broader market. To get there, the automaker intends to launch a Nismo version of the Leaf EV as a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N rival, a new Rogue crossover, and a new Xterra SUV at under $40,000, among other things. Should these new products prove successful and be embraced by a large audience, Nissan will find greater freedom, but as always, there’s an asterisk. Nissan managed to turn its forecast around by cutting costs and jobs. It was also the result of a weakened Japanese yen, which increases the value of repatriated overseas revenue converted from foreign currencies, and loosened U.S. emissions rules that allowed for revised regulatory liabilities. However unlikely some changes may be for the foreseeable future, any of those factors (besides staffing) could radically swing in the opposite direction. It also remains to be seen how cutting costs could affect products in the future, particularly when it comes to customer satisfaction and recalls. But with Espinosa saying the company is ahead of schedule in much of its turnaround plan, things are looking good for Nissan and, by extension, fans of fun-to-drive cars.