The company will add six electric vehicles to its lineup in North America, four of which will be built in the U.S.
Consolidation will also take place to reduce costs and complexities among the automaker’s models.
Nissan also wants to turn its focus toward software and services.
Nissan says many of its upcoming electric vehicles will be eligible for the full $7,500 clean vehicle tax credit in the U.S. starting in 2026.
Since the American government changed the rules that allow certain vehicles to qualify for EV tax credits back in august, many automakers have seen their electric models become more expensive overnight.
This has also happened to Nissan since the brand-new Ariya electric SUV is built in Japan, which automatically removes it from the list of qualified vehicles.
In order to make the Ariya eligible again and ensure its upcoming electric models will also benefit from a tax credit, the automaker has announced it will step up its plans to build vehicles in the United States.
The company (including Infiniti) is expected to launch six new electric models in the North American market by 2026, four of which will be assembled in Nissan’s factory in Canton, Mississippi.
Few details are known about these models yet except that two will be sedans and the other two will be SUVs.
In addition to requiring EVs to be assembled in North America, the Inflation Reduction Act also mandates that the batteries and their minerals have to be sourced from a country that holds a free-trade agreement with the U.S. thus ruling out China which is currently the main source for the automotive industry.
This is why Nissan will also work with additional partners in the US in order to make sure it will receive enough compliant batteries for its production capacity.
Furthermore, the automaker is looking at the possibility of making electric drive units at its powertrain plant in Tennessee instead of importing them from Japan as is currently the case for the Leaf.
With the help of the revised tax credits, Nissan now estimates more than 40% of its sales in the U.S. will be fully electric vehicles by the end of the decade. By comparison, 98% of sales are expected to come from electrified (electric and hybrid) vehicles in Europe in 2030.
Globally, the automaker will reduce its production and engineering costs by consolidating its platforms and powertrains.
This means that many models will share the same mechanical elements under a different body. For example, the Qashqai, Leaf, and Juke (which is still sold outside of North America) will all move to the same platform and electric drivetrain when they enter their next generation.
Doing so for the entire global lineup should help the Renault-Nissan Alliance go from 100 models of which 60% share a platform down to less than 90 models, of which 80% will share platforms.
In terms of powertrains, Nissan alone currently has 49 offerings including 4 fully electric ones. These numbers should be reduced to just 19 powertrains overall of which 3 will be electric by 2030.
The economies of scale Nissan will make will be used to further its focus on software and services, which it says will be a key part of its business model going forward.
Source: Automotive News
