SPL311RDST@aol.com wrote:
>
> Snippet from a news article:
>
> >>TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co, heavily in debt and recently
> embarked on a drastic restructuring plan, said on Thursday it would not
> compete in the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race in 2000.
> ``We are eager to return to Le Mans but only when our resources will allow us
> to be fully competitive,'' Hajime Kawasaki, Nissan's senior vice president in
> charge of motor sport, said in a statement. <<....... and so on.
>
> I'ts a sad, sad day...... backing out of LeMans means saying bye-bye to the
> whole racing thing. Somehow I fail to believe that a "comeback" will ever
> happen. Even though the newer production Nissans are, IMHO, "uninspired," at
> least the effort WAS there to keep up the racing connection. Not that we have
> much support from Nissan with our cars now (ie: dealers that have no clue our
> cars existed) this puts a major damper on the whole "sports" end of thinking
> at a corporate level. We now have a double important duty to keep our cars
> running and honor what will be known as "the good old days".
>
> Laurie
> 70 SPL311
> Chandler, AZ
Nissan is in *serious* financial trouble. We've talked about it a bunch
on the lists but most folks (including most folks inside Nissan) do not
realize how bad things are. Based on one report I heard and without
calculating interest, if Nissan paid back 100 million each year on its
current debt, it would take almost 400 years to pay off. Even if you go
conservative on their debt load, it could still take as long as 100
years at that same rate. And this doesn't include compounded interest on
the debt.
The new head of Nissan is trying to make the required changes to turn
things around, and part of that process is going to be penny pinching
for quite a while. I have heard that the entire international racing
effort will be shut down for the foreseeable future and that Nismo (in
Japan) will be essentially out of work for a while at least. I have also
heard unsubstantiated reports that the Skyline GTR will be canceled
along with the current Z car plans. It is going to be a tough time for
Nissan and it is certainly not a sure thing that they will survive this.
Unfortunately many inside Nissan do not get it. They are still trying to
do business in the same old way. And this is leading to much resistance
to the changes being implemented. I expect some very rocky times for
Nissan for a while and some real infighting. The Japanese are a proud
people and Nissan is a proud company, and being run by a second string
(in many people's eyes) European car maker like Renault is going to be
very hard for them. And Renault is not necessarily all that concerned
with salvaging Nissan. There would be a lot to be said for simply
subsuming their infrastructure and bolstering the Renault name and
infrastructure. I fear the real result of this all will be a GM type
standardization of product line, with a single platform being used for
both a Renault and a Nissan badged vehicle. I have already heard rumors
of a "world car" produced as a joint venture with the same platform
being offered in a Nissan design and a Renault design, the way Acura and
Sterling offered the same cars with slightly different cosmetics.
--
Marc Sayer
Editor/Publisher
Z Car & Classic Datsun Magazine
http://zcarmag.com
Voice 541-726-6001
Fax 541-746-0863/726-6001
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