Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has criticized the automaker for its lack of vision and believes it needs to go all-in on electric vehicles.
While speaking during an online news conference to celebrate the launch of his Japanese-language book, Ghosn said the industry will go 100 per cent electric and that Nissan isn’t doing enough.
“The speed of the shift is going to determine who’s going to be the winner,” he said. Ghosn used the example of the Leaf launched in 2010 to show how Nissan tried to popularize EVs when he was in charge: “When I launched the first mass-market electric car, as you know, everybody was laughing at us about, you know, you guys are lost.”
Read More: Nissan To Launch 23 Electrified Models By 2030, Unveils Four All-Electric Concepts
Fast forward to 2021 and most legacy automakers have announced plans to transition away from internal combustion engines and into EVs. In late November, Nissan said it was accelerating its electrification plans and by fiscal year 2030, aims to launch 23 new electrified models, including 15 EVs.
As part of the automaker’s plans, it expects 75 per cent of its European sales to be for electrified models by 2026. It is also targeting 40 per cent EV sales by 2030 in the U.S. Despite this, Ghosn doesn’t think the Japanese brand’s plans go far enough.
“They are really in a very bad position in this race,” he said, Auto News reports. “There is no vision. They don’t know where they’re going. They have no image about this huge technological transformation that is taking place.”
Ghosn, once a star in the automotive world, was arrested in late 2018 in Japan over allegations of under-reporting his salary and using company funds for personal purposes. In 2019, he fled to Lebanon where he remains to this day, maintaining his innocence.
