Page 59 - PRAGMATIC STRATEGY

The decision to site the new ‘Infinity’ model in Sunderland meant that in order to
free-up production space the Qashqai hatchback would now be transferred to one
of Nissan’s other European plants.

The new Infiniti model was conceived by Nissan's design team in London and
engineered at its technical centre in Bedfordshire. Their remit was to create a
model that would appeal to buyers in Europe, where the marque's sales were
weak. This new model is based on the Infiniti Ethera concept car, a petrol-electric
hybrid with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine first shown in March 2011. The new car
will be the first Infiniti to be offered with a diesel engine, an option seen as crucial
to win over European drivers.

Nissan expect to produce up to 60,000 Infiniti cars per year in Sunderland starting
in 2015.

Nissan is currently developing engines in a joint venture with Mercedes the owner
of Daimler. It also operates (since 1999) a strategic alliance with Renault where
they now have a common Chief Executive Officer, and in March 2012 it unveiled a
high performance petrol-electric hybrid model, the Emergenc-e, that will use a
three-cylinder petrol engine made by Hethel, Norfolk-based Lotus.

Nissan’s revenue had also been growing from 7,517,277 billion yens in 2010 to
9,409,026 billion yens in 2012, 4.5% of which was devoted to R&D. Furthermore,
Nissan’s brand was the fastest growing automotive brand in 2012, according to
Interbrand. It’s value rose by 30% to nearly $5 billion and became the 73rd most
valuable brand in the world.

However, during the period 2011and 2012, Nissan had recalled several hundred
thousands of various model cars. Although Nissan recalls comparably less cars
than its competitors do, such a situation still hurts the firm’s brand reputation and
customers loyalty.