Nissan. The lost puppy of the automotive world...

April 28, 2023

Currently there are five automotive manufacturers with a large international presence from Japan. Each one of these manufacturers are recognized either by their brand presence or specific vehicles that serve as the pinnacle of their brand, except one.

1. Honda/Acura
• Honda has long produced one of the most reliable 4-cylinder engines available and is known to have the best feeling manual transmissions (clutch specifically) available in any car
• Honda also produces one of the greatest, budget sports cars ever built with the past two generations of Civic Type R
  
  
  
  
  
2. Mazda
• Mazda engineers cars to feel "fun" and is clearly beginning to target luxury vehicles with their newer releases
• Mazda's identity can perfectly be shown by any ones of its Miata's, which is the most sold sports car ever made
  
  
  
  
  
3. Subaru
• Subaru has long been recognized as a market leader in terms of safety and capability especially in poor road conditions with its great all-wheel drive system (standard on every Subaru except the BRZ)
• Subaru's halo vehicles are the WRX and the Outback (Wilderness edition especially) showcasing a more durable and capable alternative to the traditional sedan or station wagon
  
  
  
  
  
4. Toyota/Lexus
• Please note that I am biased, but Toyota has their foot in the door of every major market is is know for one thing: building most reliable vehicles on the market
• Toyota makes the most reliable daily driving vehicles (Camry, RAV4, Corolla), fun sports cars (GR Corolla and GR Yaris), and the most reliable trucks and SUV's (4Runner, Tacoma, and Land Cruiser)
  
  
  

So now for the fifth Japanese, automotive manufacturer, Nissan. Each of the above companies have a brand with a distinct mission. That mission is in some way incorporated into at least one of its cars and generally it's across the brand. Nissan is completely lacking that, both in brand direction and vehicles currently for sale on the market. In this post, I am going to break down the past 20 years, current day, and future.

Past 20 Years

20 years ago, Nissan was coming off of its golden years from the 80's through the 90's. Nissan was known for reliability and quality for an affordable price. Sedans like the Sentra and Altima were inexpensive and reliable. SUV's and trucks like the Xterra, Frontier, and Pathfinder offered strong alternatives to the Wrangler, Tacoma, and 4Runner with similar capability. 

In 2002, the future was looking extremely bright with the release of the all new 350Z as its halo car. The 350Z offered strong power (~300HP/300ft/lbs) at an affordable price ($27,000). For reference, a Mustang GT only produced 260 horsepower and was essentially the same price ($25,000).

Nissan started updating its vehicles throughout the mid 2000's, trying to closely mirror its closest Japanese competitor, Toyota. Where the two differed was on their missions as a company. Toyota's sole focus during this era was reliability; design was an afterthought. Nissan took a different approach of being mass-market and marketing. One such example of this was how the two brands approached sports cars. Toyota killed off its last remaining sports car (the MR2) in 2007, while Nissan was focused on transitioning its halo car from the beloved 350Z to the new GTR release in 2008.

I have NOTHING bad to say about the GTR as it truly elevated the market of relatively affordable sports cars. For $60,000 at the time, you could essentially purchase a GTR and beat anything on the road in terms of acceleration and handling both on a track and on back roads. There are countless videos on the internet that illustrate how ahead of its time the R35 GTR was; here is one from Matt Farrah from the Smoking Tire.

While I have nothing bad to say about the GTR, the GTR serves as the pinnacle of what Nissan as a brand achieved over the past 20 years. Since Nissan's mission of creating a 911 and Corvette killing machine with the GTR in 2008, Nissan has essentially lost sight of its mission, creativity, and reliability and threw every available dime at the engineering of the GTR. Here are some examples:

• Nissan transitioned to the CVT transmission across its lineup, leading to countless failures across many of its products
• Rogue, Pathfinder, and QX60 had a class-action lawsuit settled for transmission failures for model years 2014-2018
• Versa, Versa Note, Sentra, Altima, and Juke had a class-action lawsuits settled for transmission failures for model years 2012-2017
• The 370Z was built on a revised version of the 350Z in 2009. 13 years later in 2022, Nissan produced the Nissan Z which uses essentially the same chassis as the 350Z 20 years prior
• The revised Titan received the Cummins diesel (a huge deal) and sadly the truck suffered all sorts of problems, both seen short term and long term reviews
• The Nissan GTR that released in 2008 has had iterative updates over the years, but has never been overhauled. The GTR is not a bad car, but is dated in terms of technology and driving dynamics. That same GTR is still for sale brand new in 2023 

The Car Wizard on YouTube also gives his insight on Nissan vehicles. Essentially, he recommends vehicles up to about the 2005 mark and nothing after.

Current Day

Here we are in 2023 and things have changed a lot over the past 20 years. We now look at 700 horsepower vehicles as being "normal" and achievable 0-60 times routinely being sub-4 seconds. We have an increasing number of electric vehicles (EV's) including trucks capable of keeping up with modern Ferrari's. The craziest part? Toyota, a company that once dropped all of its sports cars to focus on reliability across its lineup, now offers 5 sports cars (more if you count the Lexus counterparts) and all of them have a dedicated mission of being reliable and exciting offerings to the market.

Surely Nissan is continuing to follow Toyota along, right? Sadly, that's not the case. Nissan produces a number of crossovers and sedans (Big Altima Energy) which are all depressingly boring, cheap and unreliable. The only vehicle I can really look at with a sense of positivity is the Frontier which really gives the Tacoma a run for its money because of how smooth it drives, however 90% of individuals would still opt for the Tacoma due to the brand recognition and known reliability (Toyota's mission). Here is an example of an Altima meme from the internet:

Future

Here is what actually made me want to write this article. Nissan is currently advertising its new vehicle, the Ariya.

I think the interior and the exterior both look fine. I think the acceleration and range are acceptable. I have absolutely nothing against the Ariya itself. My issue comes with Nissan's direction and marketing. For example, watch the below video from the 7:10 mark through to about 8:30 mark.

I genuinely like the personalities that the Donut Media team has and appreciate their sense of humor across all kinds of different automotive subjects, but I'm sure they feel the same way I do. Nissan developed a car that essentially does everything okay, but nothing well. In the most competitive segment in the market (electric crossover), you cannot have a car that doesn't stick out.

• The Tesla Model Y offers 30 miles more range (330 over 303)
• The Ford Mustang Mach-E offers a full 1.5 second better 0-60 than the Ariya (3.5 seconds over 5 seconds)
• The Toyota BZX4 offers more trunk capacity than the Ariya (22 cubic feet versus 28 cubic feet)

It's not just me hating on the Ariya. Even Doug Demuro on YouTube ranked the Ariya the second-worst EV crossover, just ahead of the Kia Niro.

The fact that there isn't anything industry leading was not a problem when the Nissan Leaf launched 10 years ago, but in 2023 we have used EV's that are more comfortable, faster, less expensive, and frankly have better brand recognition that the Ariya does. For what it's worth, I (like most) hate the name Mustang in the Ford Mustang Mach E, but I would be far more inclined to buy one over a Nissan Ariya.

As I learned in school, to be successful you have to have a mission. Is Nissan's mission:

• Reliability?
• Fun?
• Different?
• Electric vehicle leader?
• Alternative fuel?

The problem is, Nissan has no identity. The Ariya and current Z are a perfect representation of a brand that is lost and just throwing objects at a wall until something sticks.

The rich history of Nissan (formerly Datsun) makes me want the brand to succeed. I would have loved to have seen the first affordable Z product go electric because that's a halo and shows a mission to go in a direction. I would love to see a hyper-powerful gasoline Titan go ballistic off-road with a Ford Raptor or RAM TRX. I would love a hydrogen fuel cell option in a basic Altima or Sentra as a proof of concept. I would see all of these to be a goal for the brand...