Nissan Australia: “We’re here to stay”

The chief of Nissan’s Australian operations has put a brave face on the company’s future both internationally and locally, while admitting the long-term implications of a proposed merger with Honda are unclear.

“We are here to stay,” Nissan Oceania managing director Andrew Humberstone told motoring media at the launch of the facelifted Qashqai compact SUV this week – drive impressions, pricing and spec details are all embargoed until February 17.

But when pressed on the potential ramifications of the merger locally later in a one-on-one interview with carsales, Humberstone admitted: “I don’t have a crystal ball”.

Emphasising the fluidity of the situation, reports emerged yesterday after Humberstone spoke (Wednesday, February 5) that Nissan was likely to reject merger terms that would effectively make it a subsidiary of Honda.

Until then, the understanding had been the two brands would be retain their individual identities and management, with oversight from a new jointly-owned holding company.

Honda and Nissan were already committed to a technical alliance when merger talks were announced on December 23. A finalised agreement is intended by June 2025 and the holding company in operation by August 2026.

An indication of potential troubles came earlier this week when the deadline for an announcement of the “merger direction” was pushed back from late January to mid-February.

Mitsubishi was also reported earlier this week to have decided not to join the merger.

Globally, Nissan is seen very much as the weaker partner in the merger negotiations with Honda.

That’s because of bad financial results in the third quarter of 2024 that prompted its management to declare it was in ‘emergency mode’ and announce plans to slash 9000 jobs, reduce production capacity by 25 per cent and delay new model launches.

The setbacks came not long after Humberstone announced a long-term, globally-approved strategy last September to cement Nissan’s place in the Australian market.

Despite Nissan’s financial issues and the uncertainty introduced by the Honda negotiations, Humberstone was positive about the brand’s future globally and in Australia.

“I wanted to start today on Nissan at a global level and dare I say at a local level,” Humberstone told the assembled media. “There has been lots of media speculation around Nissan of late … so I wanted to set the record straight.

“Number one, we are here to stay. Nissan as a brand is here to stay there is no question of that.

“We’re working with incredible speed to really implement a turnaround action plan and really focus on recovery,” he said of the global crisis.

“Our approach is around right-sizing the business … and great revenues through strong product offensives. I don’t believe you can save your way out of a crisis.”

Humberstone pointed to a top management restructure at a global level and a commitment to slash product development cycles from 55 to 30 months as proof of Nissan’s ambition to recover.

Critically, the management overhaul includes the appointment of Humberstone’s boss Guillaume Cartier to the effective global number two role as chief performance officer, while continuing as chairman of the AMIEO (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania) region.

Cartier was the key sign-off on Humberstone’s Nissan Australia strategy plan, which looks out as far as 20 years and is intended to cement the brand within the top six sellers nationally.

“He [Cartier] has been out here many times,” Humberstone said.

“He knows the Australian market exceptionally well and is very well known to us and we are very fortunate to have a direct line of communication.

“He is completely aligned with our strategy paper.”

Humberstone said the merger with Honda had “the potential … to shape our future in terms of product, R&D, design and shared technologies and, I think, uniting” the “strength of both companies so” they “can deliver unparalleled value to customers worldwide”.

But pressed in the one-on-one interview, Humberstone said we were still “a long way” from understanding what – if any – impacts of the merger on individual market operations such as Australia.

He also said he could not say whether Nissan would survive or fail if the merger talks failed.

“I don’t have that visibility of the global operations,” he said before confirming there had been no effect on the Nissan Australia strategic plan announced last September – yet.

One of the first tangible pieces of the plan to break cover was the 10 year/300,000km warranty announced on February 1.

Nissan Australia had already confirmed the roll-out of seven updated and four all-new model by March 2027, including the critical new Navara ute, which is its top-selling model in Australia.

In contrast to the global trend, Nissan also reported improved sales in Australia in 2024, lifting by 15 per cent compared to 2023.

But despite those positives, Humberstone admitted the direction of Nissan in Australia could eventually change if the merger takes place.

“You are three years away if not more from any sort of implementation or change within the sales and marketing operations, so for me we carry on with our plan for the market,” he said.

“A far as Nissan is concerned, we are committed to New Zealand, we are committed to Australia and the Oceania region.

“I don’t have a crystal ball,” he admitted. “We are adding value, we are showing improvement, we are developing the market, we are investing in the market.

“All of the points that we should be doing we are now doing and from that perspective I continue to have huge confidence.”

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