Nissan's Luxury Electric SUV Revives Battered Stock -- WSJ
July 16 2020 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Sean McLain
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (July 16, 2020).
TOKYO -- Nissan Motor Co. finally captured for itself some of
the investor excitement over electric vehicles, unveiling a new
model that helped its shares rise more than 7%.
The Japanese auto maker said it would start selling a midsize
electric sport-utility vehicle called the Ariya next year starting
at around $40,000.
Even before the formal announcement Wednesday afternoon in
Yokohama, Nissan's shares rose nearly 9% from Tuesday's closing
price, ultimately finishing the Tokyo day up 7.25%.
Shares of electric-vehicle companies have been on a tear this
year. Tesla Inc.'s shares have risen by more than a third in July
alone. The company is now the most valuable car maker in the world,
surpassing Toyota Motor Corp.
Nikola Corp., a relatively unknown maker of electric trucks, saw
its shares surge after its public debut in early June. Its value
briefly surpassed that of Ford Motor Co. Nikola doesn't yet sell
any vehicles but says it will make a truck called the Badger to
rival the Ford F-150, the bestselling vehicle in the U.S.
Nissan executives have long bemoaned the attention and investor
love showered on companies like Tesla that are credited with
pushing electric vehicles into the mainstream -- a feat that Nissan
believes it achieved first with the Leaf, which went on sale in
2010. While the Leaf has sold nearly 500,000 units, it fell far
short of initial expectations.
One reason Nissan got shunted to the sidelines, the executives
say, is that the Leaf was designed to be an affordable vehicle,
with unremarkable styling and performance, while Tesla aimed for
luxury-car buyers with sports-car performance.
The Ariya is going for the Tesla crowd. It will cost as much as
an Infiniti, Nissan's luxury brand, and go from zero to 60 miles an
hour in 5.1 seconds, the company said.
"This is a no-compromise car: great acceleration, strong
response, good handling," said Nissan Chief Executive Makoto
Uchida.
Although Nissan has traditionally seen itself as a maker of
cutting-edge vehicles, that image has taken a beating in recent
years with a lineup that was older than rivals. The company relied
heavily on low-profit sales to rental car agencies to pad sales.
After it pulled back on some efforts to lift volume, the company
lost $6.2 billion in the year ended in March.
The Ariya is unlikely to turn around the business on its own
because electric vehicles, despite the investor interest, remain a
fraction of the total car market. But Nissan hopes it will lead a
move into more attractive cars that the company can sell for more
money.
Nissan said the Ariya would be the first model to bear a new
corporate logo with a sleeker font. It will have a range of between
280 miles and 380 miles, depending on the equipment package. With a
high-speed charger, the car could be recharged to around 230 miles
of range in 30 minutes, the company said. Using Amazon.com Inc.'s
Alexa voice-recognition software, Ariya drivers will be able to
turn on their lights at home before getting there, Nissan said.
Write to Sean McLain at sean.mclain@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 16, 2020 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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