Nissan declares its Aussie future secured

The local boss of Nissan Australia has declared his employer’s future secure following approval of his new long-term business strategy by Nissan’s regional and global bosses.

Bluntly, new Nissan Oceania managing director Andrew Humberstone said he had to move Nissan Australia from “mediocrity to excellence” to avoid potentially falling out of a market which he forecasts will see up to 100 brands fighting for only 1.2 million sales within years.

“It is critical at this particular juncture that we know where we're going with our brand and what we want to achieve and how we want to get there because it's a very, very complex market,” he said.

Soon after arriving here in April, Humberstone promised he would develop a “bold and brave” new strategy for the brand here.

Yesterday, during a media conference, Humberstone outlined the bare bones of a strategy that looks out as far as 20 years, is intended to lift Nissan permanently into the top six sellers in the market and guarantee its long-term profitability.

“I think top six is not unreasonable,” he told carsales.

He confirmed Nissan’s global bosses had bought into the Australian revival plan and the investment required to make it work.

“We [Nissan] see longevity because we see profitability, because we see an opportunity to optimise on the product portfolio that we have,” Humberstone told carsales.

“We are ready to meet with the customer demand. We have the product range to do very well in this market and not everyone else does.

“Therefore we have market opportunity,” he stated.

To the end of August 2024 Nissan sits ninth on the local sales table after spending 2022 and 2023 outside the top 10. Its 26,491 sales in 2022 were its worst result in Australia since the mid-1990s.

As reported separately, a key part of the strategy over the next 2.5 years will be overhauling the showroom line-up with four all-new models and seven updates of varying significance.

The four new models include the next Navara and Y63 Patrol and two electric vehicles, the Ariya and third-generation Leaf.

But Humberstone also revealed other key components of the strategy led by a massive marketing and messaging effort to:

This is a significant part of the strategy because Humberstone has assessed that Nissan has not properly and consistently established its identity and capitalised on its links with Australia.

For instance, the first Datsuns arrived here in 1934, it is the only car brand that retains any manufacturing capacity in Australia and one of the few with a finance arm.

“It's fair to say that we are actually quite deeply rooted in the Australian history and [that’s] not something we've really leveraged on or communicated historically,” said Humberstone.

“So I think that's something we're absolutely going to change.”

He explained there will also be a stronger focus on customer experience and a stronger focus on dealer engagement, something that has helped Hyundai in the past decade.

Some actions under the umbrella of these initiatives are already underway and others will become apparent over coming months.

The support of the dealer network – Australia’s fifth largest – is confirmation Nissan has no intention to shift from traditional franchising to a set-price agency arrangement.

“[It’s] critical for customer peace of mind, not just from a sales perspective but from an after sales servicing perspective to ensure that we have the coverage to serve our customers,” said Humberstone.

“Especially in a time where customer retention is becoming increasingly important, the relationship and the amount of dialogue that you have with your customers.”

Expanding on that Humberstone outlined to carsales why he thought the new Nissan strategy was for car buyers.

“The Australian-ness of the product, we are authentic, we are safe, we have our own finance company, they can trust our residual values, they can trust us on after-sales.

“They can trust us on the fact we will be here tomorrow.

“If you want to be in the top six brands in the market I think it’s important you have that message and story and you can demonstrate it authentically.”

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