Opinion: 'Nissan Ambition 2030' Was an Hour of Wishful Thinking

Nissan Motor Co. has confirmed plans to invest 2 trillion yen ($17.65 billion USD) over the next five years to accelerate its electric vehicle development program. Like most major manufacturers, the automaker wants to launch a bevy of electrified products over the next decade and derive a relevant portion of its income from EVs.

As explained by CEO Makoto Uchida on Monday as part of the “Nissan Ambition 2030,” the plan is to launch 23 new vehicles with some amount of electrification while it attempts to implement solid-state batteries into three concept vehicles that supposedly foreshadow future lineups. These include the battery-electric “Surf-Out” lifestyle pickup, “Max-Out” sports convertible, “Chill-Out” regular car, and “Hang-Out” adventure crossover. Though all three appear to be little more than drafts of vehicles Nissan would eventually like to build, boasting technologies that we’re not sure are feasible. For example, the Hang-Out is featured with a polygonal purple awning that oozes impossibly out of the vehicle’s roof. It lacks realism, which ended up being a central theme of the Nissan Ambition 2030 presentation that was broadcast on Monday.

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  • Bikeriding Donutguy 1977.My friend Jim Weisensale had a cherry 1973 455 SD 4 spd Trans Am.Me? I had a 68 Beetle.
  • FreedMike I don't see why you can't have both EVs and conventionally powered cars.
  • Zerofoo We leased a new CX-5 for my daughter when she started driving. We put nothing down and bought gap insurance. The theory was if she totaled the car, it was nothing more than a rental. If she kept the car in good shape and the car was reliable, we would, at the end of the lease, have the opportunity to buy a low-mileage 3 year old used car.
  • Peter KODAK Moment
  • Eliyahu Toyota has looked at the state of the world and decided that hybrids are the best fit for currently achieving environmental and regulatory goals. Their hybrid production is now across many of their models. Honda is following suit. They will both likely also produce some electric vehicles. The best path forward is likely higher fuel taxes, with some tax credit offsets for the lower tax brackets. This would encourage a move toward more fuel efficient vehicles. The US big 3 auto makers are the ones with the most to lose here-they are the late adapters-coasting on trucks.