Nissan Motor has raised its global sales target for electrified vehicles, including a huge boost in Europe assisted by its recently renewed strategic alliance with French counterpart Renault, as the Japanese automaker strives for competitiveness in a sector led by companies like Tesla of the U.S. and China’s BYD.
The 2030 target for the global electrified sales mix, which includes Nissan’s hybrid e-Power models and electric vehicles, will increase to over 55%, up from the forecast of 50% the company made in its long-term strategy unveiled in November 2021. Nissan will introduce 27 new electrified models, including 19 EVs, by fiscal year 2030, up from its initial plan of 23 electrified vehicles, including 15 EVs.
The automaker raised its 2026 sales mix target for electrified vehicles in Europe to 98% from 75%, as it sees the region’s passenger vehicle sales going fully electric by that year. The region has become a “core market,” said Ashwani Gupta, the company’s chief operating officer, in a briefing to reporters on Monday, as its profitability in the region increased and Nissan’s alliance with Renault gives it access to the market for small vehicles, in which it did not have much presence.
For other key markets, the target for Japan by 2026 was slightly increased to 58% from the initial 55%, while the goal for the U.S. remained unchanged at EVs solely accounting for 40% of the sales mix by 2030.
In China, Nissan will now aim to make electrified vehicles account for 35% of its sales in 2026, down from the initial target of 40% set in 2021, as it sees the world’s largest market for EVs growing slower than expected and dominated by local brands.
The demand for EVs is “not increasing in the way it was anticipated in 2018, 2019, 2020 — for sure, it’s not happening,” said Gupta, adding that the Chinese market is “dominated by local Chinese manufacturers.”
He also pointed out that the launch of regulations for vehicle emissions, which the company had assumed would “accelerate the shift” toward EVs, as happened in Europe, has been “postponed,” meaning that “definitely, the use of internal combustion engines will continue a little bit more than it was expected.”
The company hopes to address this by maintaining competitiveness in cars that burn fossil fuel while focusing on its electrified vehicles, and launch Chinese EVs “in China, for China” to compete with local brands.
In the U.S., the company is moving forward with plans to align by 2026 with the requirements of the Inflation Reduction Act, which requires car companies to localize their production of EVs to be eligible for subsidies. The act is “challenging but an opportunity to accelerate competitive electrification,” said Gupta.
The “biggest challenge” is localizing batteries and the mineral supply chain, which is currently dependent on Chinese suppliers. “We are now working very closely with the U.S., in Japan, with the mineral supply chain, about how we qualify for that,” he said.
Responding to the industry’s trend in developing software-defined vehicles, Nissan will develop “100% Nissan software for all advanced mobility technologies” by 2025, said Gupta.
It will have a total of 4,000 software engineers under Nissan as well as partners like Renault. The company is now “accelerating the hiring of new engineers,” said Gupta.
