Tokyo - Nissan's new Ariya electric vehicle has been hampered by problems at its high-tech production line, four people familiar with the matter said, slowing delivery of a car designed to put the Japanese carmaker on the road to a comeback.
First unveiled in 2020 to strong reviews, the crossover was Nissan's first all-new global car in five years and signalled an intent to turn the corner on the turmoil that followed the ouster of former head Carlos Ghosn.
But production is running at least a third below plan, keeping the Ariya from shipping to new customers, according to three of the people and production planning notes reviewed by Reuters. All of the people declined to be identified because the matter is private.
The shortfall represents a lost opportunity to capitalise on the Ariya's buzz and test demand for the first of 19 new EVs Nissan plans to roll out by 2030. It also hinders the carmaker's plans for growth in the electric car market it helped pioneer before ceding dominance to Tesla.
Ariya production has been slowed by problems with the highly automated "intelligent factory" manufacturing system it built for the model at its plant in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, two of the people said.
Nissan designed a system that would allow it to produce cars with different powertrains - batteries, hybrids and internal combustion engines - on the same line. Implementation has proved "an extremely, extremely high challenge" and the advanced paint line has become a persistent headache, one of the people said.
Nissan also faces shortages of plating for an electronic component for the Ariya after a fire at China-based supplier Wuxi Welnew Micro-Electronic in January, one of the people said. The supplier told Reuters it had shifted output to a second plant and was "working to recover production."
In a statement to Reuters, Nissan said Ariya production had faced challenges including supply of semiconductors, disruptions in components shipments and the factory's paint line. "Nissan is making a full and diligent effort to fully regain production capacity at the plant," the company said.
S&P Global Ratings this week cut Nissan's debt rating to junk status, saying margins and sales volumes were unlikely to improve as quickly as previously expected.
The production challenges come as Nissan and Renault in January agreed to overhaul their two-decade-old alliance on more equal footing. Nissan also agreed to invest in Renault's new EV business.
Nissan rode a wave of early interest in EVs with the Leaf hatchback in 2010. But by 2020 that car was overtaken by Tesla's Model 3 in terms of lifetime sales. EVs accounted for just 4.5% of Nissan's global sales of 3.2 million vehicles in 2022.
Nissan has targeted production of 400 Ariyas a day, according to two of the people, equivalent to almost 9 000 vehicles a month and more than 100 000 a year.
Output over the next two months is expected to fall short of that, according to production planning notes from last month reviewed by Reuters. Output in March was forecast at under 6 900 vehicles and at around 5 200 in April and 5 400 in May, according to the planning notes. That has since been lowered, one of the people said.
The Ariya was supposed to hit showrooms in 2021, but that was pushed back to 2022 because of a global chip shortage.
With a starting price of about $43 000 (R780 000) in the United States, the Ariya is an alternative to Tesla's Model Y.
Reuters