New York 2012: Mr. Eight Percent
A year ago, Carlos Ghosn announced that Nissan is aiming for 8 percent global market share by 2016. This morning in New York, delivering the keynote address at the New York Auto Show, Ghosn said it again:
“We can achieve 8 percent global market share by 2016.”
After a pause, he continued: “Whenever I state this 8 percent goal, I get some skeptical looks.”
Whenever he says that, people do get that look. Then they answer, or think: “Nissan? You surely must be talking about Nissan and Renault, right?”
Wrong. He meant Nissan a year ago, and he was talking only about Nissan today. Nissan is well on its way. Currently Nissan is at 4.8 million vehicles worldwide, or 6.4 percent of the total global market. Ghosn plans to sell 200,000 units more in the U.S. alone with 5 new volume models.
Nissan will ”target millions of people joining the middle classes around the world” by reviving Datsun for low cost cars.
“And before you ask – no, we do not currently plan to bring Datsun back to the U.S.”
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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It makes sense. In North America, Nissan is the mainstream brand. In third-world markets, those same sorts of price points are aspirational, not entry-level. This tells me that Datsun is going to carry some very cheap cars that it would be a bit loathe to sell in the developed world. Datsun's jobs will be to support the Nissan brand, by providing the developing world with a branding ladder to climb.
Why did they change to Nissan? Well, back in the 70's, only in the USA was the Datsun name used, so Nissan wanted a cohesive brand globally. Old hippies still regret the name change and have owned Hondas or Subarus since. But, who really cares anymore?