Earlier this week, it was announced through news agency Reuters that Nissan is going to significantly reduce its brand presence in Europe. A complete departure would even be in order, but according to Nissan, the latter is certainly not true. New cars are coming.
It is beyond dispute that Nissan has seen better times in Europe. In an attempt to save costs and to be able to supply more market-specific products outside Europe, it would therefore like to significantly reduce the effort on our continent in the coming years. Only the Qashqai and the Juke would remain, although it remains to be seen whether that will be for one generation or longer. Alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi are said to jointly pull the cart for the European market.
The major restructuring plan will be announced at the end of this month and it will become more concrete what it will mean. However, Nissan has already announced to Automotive News magazine that things are not so bad: “We remain fully committed to strengthening our European offering as part of strengthening our business.” In addition, Nissan refers to the introduction of the brand new Juke as ‘the first step in the renewal of the passenger car range’.
The following Qashqai is also just making an appearance here in Europe: “In our factory in Sunderland, preparations for starting production of the next generation of Qashqai have already begun,” Nissan said in a response to Nu.nl. There is more to come: “We also strive to further electrify our line-up and in this light we can announce that new products are on the way.”
In any case, the Juke and the Qashqai will continue to represent Nissan in the European market in the coming years. Despite this statement, however, it remains to be seen what will happen to the Micra, X-Trail and the Leaf if the current generation of those models drops off.