Can Nissan's new Leaf rekindle its electric mojo?
It is difficult to understate the Leaf's symbolic importance to Nissan.
It was the world's best-selling EV for years until it was overtaken by Tesla. Introduced by the now-disgraced Carlos Ghosn, it heralded Nissan's desire to play a big role in the electric future. Despite the company's troubles in recent years, it has sold almost 700,000 Leaf vehicles.
CEO Ivan Espinosa faces the difficult task of delivering much-needed cost cuts while continuing to invest in development of new vehicles to refresh its ageing line-up and lack of hybrids in the US.
Espinosa has laid out plans for big cuts, including seven plant closures and 11,000 jobs. That will bring staff cuts to about 20,000, including those announced by his predecessor last year.
Nissan reported a net loss of about $4.5bn (R80,705,024,550) in the past financial year and faces ¥596bn (R73,552,350,570) in debt due next year.
The new Leaf will also be made at the Sunderland factory in Britain. The Tochigi and Sunderland plants are not expected to be among the closures, though the Oppama factory where the Leaf was first made could be axed.
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