Nissan was once a great company with great, enjoyable products. It is the one that made Nissan Sunny, Cedric, Patrol, Fairlady 350z, Skyline and the pioneering Nissan Leaf. They made Datsun 120Y, Datsun 240z Bluebird, Datsun 280C!

But recently what has Nissan got to offer to the customers? CVTs that routinely fail @ exactly 60,000 kms?

The downfall of Nissan has taken a long time to come, and in part it is because of their own anti-social behaviors. If a company cannot be a good corporate citizen, soon they will be extinct. We can see this example in the German automakers, they involved in Dieselgate, did not keep up to brand image of durability and now they are being surpassed by Kia.

Going back in the history, Nissan is the reason Mitsubishi practically ended. Circa. 2015-16, Nissan found out that Mitsubishi was involved in falsification of fuel average data. Nissan ousted them, and as soon as Mitsubishi leadership was bowing down and their share price tanked, Nissan immediately bought 34% of their shares. Initially on face-value, whistle-blowing about cheating the government regulator & customers seemed very virtuous. But as soon as Nissan begun gobbling up Mitsubishi, it was apparent they are “that type” of entity who would create misfortune for others just to benefit from it. This is just an example of the dirty practices.
Quote from Wikipedia “Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance membership[edit]In May 2016, in the wake of the fuel-efficiency scandal uncovered by Nissan (discussed in “Fuel economy scandal”),[19] Nissan began the acquisition of a 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors, with the aim of making Nissan the largest and controlling shareholder of Mitsubishi”. You can find the nearly exact same wording on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Motors and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault%E2%80%93Nissan%E2%80%93Mitsubishi_Alliance

The story doesn’t end here. In 2017 Nissan itself was found to be culprit of falsifying emissions data. Then AFAIR in 2018 they were again found to be cheating on fuel efficiency and emissions reporting.
In 2017-2018 they began the fiasco of targeting Carlos Ghosn, a Lebanese person who came to them from Renault and was responsible for a great turnaround of the company. After benefiting from him for nearly 2 decades, the board decided to oust this award-winning and decorated CEO, the government was also complicit with them and he got arrested – and later fled from Japan. There is a series of events at Nissan in which foreign executives have been ostracized and every scumbag action has been taken including allegations of sexual harassment, installing cameras in people’s residences (privacy snooping), and the tried & true “financial misconduct”. You can find the relevant pieces on CarSpiritPk and PakWheels Blogs and other international media, including automotive blogs, financial news websites and general newspapers.

It is so telling about Nissan. Other companies have also been involved in the disgusting practices cheating on emissions and fuel economy reporting. But Nissan is by far the only company which make headlines ever so often related to persecution of their foreign executives. It looks like they have no time to spare for product development, research, customer service, quality & durability. Pretty much the only thing that’s happening in the corridors is office politics.

What a pity that this formerly great brand is suffering this way. Japan has built it repute around business ethics so why can’t they teach it to Nissan?