Japan's Nissan promises aggressive electrification push to cut costs, boost global sales

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Nissan has announced plans to expand its electric vehicle lineup, develop more powerful batteries and cut production costs

TOKYO — Nissan will expand its electric vehicle lineup, develop more powerful batteries and cut production costs, while speeding up the whole process, in what the Japanese automaker’s chief called “The Arc” pathway to higher sales by 2030.

“The auto industry is now being forced to reshape its values so we can say continuous change is the new normal,” Chief Executive Makoto Uchida told reporters Monday, in outlining a sprawling but ambitious business plan.

“Nissan must change. We cannot succeed if we continue along the same path.”

Costs will come down for electric models so they’ll be about the same as gasoline-engine models by fiscal 2030, while global sales will grow by a million vehicles during that period, he added.

Last year, Nissan Motor Co. sold nearly 3.4 million vehicles around the world, up about 5% from the previous year.

The company is planning 30 new models over the next three years, 16 of them EVs. Nissan plans to launch 34 EV models from fiscal 2024 through fiscal 2030, so that EVs will account for 40% of its global offerings by fiscal 2026, and 60% by the end of the decade.

To slash costs, Nissan says it will start working with suppliers from the development stage, upgrade production methods to incorporate robotics and artificial intelligence, and have models sharing components — not just platforms but also parts. It also promised innovation in autonomous vehicles to make driving safer.

Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, will leverage its partnerships around the world, including those with smaller Japanese maker Mitsubishi Motors Corp., with Dongfeng