YOKOHAMA, Japan — After pulling Nissan Motor Co. out of two years of red ink and the company's biggest-ever operating loss, CEO Makoto Uchida is now focusing on long-term growth.
Uchida just unveiled his vision in a new road map called Nissan Ambition 2030, which calls for investing $17.73 billion in the next five years to amp up an electrified vehicle push with 23 new entries worldwide by the end of the decade. By that time, Nissan will also bring solid-state batteries to market and derive 40 percent of its U.S. sales from full-electric vehicles.
Nissan's global boss says he will flesh out details of the drive after the company completes its current midterm business plan, Nissan Next, which runs through March 31, 2024.
Uchida, 55, sat down this month with Asia Editor Hans Greimel to discuss the electrification plans, autonomous driving, the brand's recovery in the U.S. and relations with partner Renault. Here are edited excerpts.
Q: Which camp of automakers is Nissan in — the group that's bullish about going all-in on full-electric vehicles or the group that wants a more balanced transition, supported by hybrids?
A: It depends on where our portfolio is. The pace of the electrification, or carbon neutrality, is different in each country, in Europe, China, Japan or the U.S. In the end, it is not just the automotive sector, it's related to energy. So it's about how all of industry or the entire country is going to be equipped for that.
And one of the pillars we cannot ignore is electrification. We have to have many choices, about how we can be equipped or how we can be ready.