Nissan To Use IPod Model To Market Their Leaf

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

By the end of the year, Nissan will, a bit belatedly, introduce their total plug-in, not range extended, all electric Leaf. They will also open a huge data center.

According to The Nikkei [sub], the location and other stats of the data center are strictly confidential. “But sources close to the company say the facility is equipped with quake protection and information-leak prevention systems so powerful it could even handle state secrets.” What do they need it for?

Nissan supposedly wants take a completely new way of selling vehicles. They want to use what they call an “iPod model” in the car industry.

“From now on, we will market cars based on the value of the information they provide,” said Toru Futami, expert leader at Nissan’s IT & ITS engineering department to the Nikkei.

Details are as shady as the exact location of the data center. The Nikkei could divine that “by connecting the facility and its cars through a high-speed wireless network, Nissan is able to receive driving information in real time. The system enables the driver to easily get information about such things as traffic jams and the location of charging stations.” Hmm. Big deal. Here’s another one:

“Because the data center stores a vast amount of information, including the number of times the car battery has been recharged, drivers will be able to calculate such things as how many more years a battery can be used and what value to place on it when the car is resold.” Nothing you need a big data center for, and nothing that would revolutionize the car market.

Now if Nissan could charge the Leaf while driving, that would be something. Don’t laugh. Theoretically possible. But then, reality sets in: Charging a Blackberry via WiFi in 3 hours is not the same as charging a 24kWh brute of a battery. So what do they really need that data center for?

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Davejay Davejay on Mar 09, 2010

    You know, it may also be something as simple as running their own data processing capabilities for simple things like car payments. Right now they use a third-party service, and if you're paying an NMAC loan you either have to enroll in automatic payments through a third party, pay by mail-in check, or pay a transaction fee of $5-$12 per non-scheduled online payment. If you're going to have an electric car with navigation, bluetooth and other communication/connectivity features, it makes sense to build a datacenter to support it -- but it also makes sense to leverage that datacenter for managing billing, too. In that context, larger capacity and extensive security aren't really a mystery. Oh, and the Leaf is supposed to be able to calculate how much charge you have left, and tell you where you can go to get charged back up within your remaining range, right? Real-time traffic data processing is going to be a substantial chunk of that if they want it to be accurate and timely. Finally, the iPod model comparison makes a bit more sense if you think of the Leaf as the shell and the battery capacity/engine power as the disk/processor combination. So perhaps you'll be able to buy a leaf that gets an 80-mile range with 0-60 in ten seconds for $x, 80-mile range with 0-60 in eight seconds for $y, and 120-mile range with 0-60 in ten seconds for $z -- with an occasional model "refresh" that updates the exterior/interior appearance and bumps those capability numbers to 100-mile + ten seconds, 100-mile + seven seconds, and 140-mile + ten seconds. That sort of thing. It'd be a fascinating way to sell cars.

  • Sloppyjoe Sloppyjoe on Mar 11, 2010

    They need the datacenter with top secret security clearance to store all the complaints they are going to get and cover up like thir cousin Toyota did.

  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
  • EBFlex The best gift would have been a huge bonfire of all the fak mustangs in inventory and shutting down the factory that makes them.Heck, nobody would even have to risk life and limb starting the fire, just park em close together and wait for the super environmentally friendly EV fire to commence.
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