What if. That’s the guidance principle that has driven Nissan Motors since its inception more than 80 years ago. With a name originating from “Nihon Sangyo,” literally meaning “Japanese Industries,” Nissan has the distinction of being one of the new automakers not named after its founder—a nod to its social responsibility.
But what makes Nissan, Nissan? What drives them as a company? That question is answered thoroughly at the Nissan 360 event in Yokohama, Japan. It’s a full sensory experience that brings the brand’s past, present, and future into razor-sharp focus.
The Past: Zama Heritage Collection
Nissan started out in 1914 as the Kwaishinsha Motor Car Works, which produced its first car three years later called DAT. DAT is the acronym of the company’s investors’ family names. As early as its founding, DAT proved to be a very global company with American engineer William R. Gorham working to bring cutting-edge auto making technology from the USA. Gorham is instrumental in making Nissan the first Japanese automaker to adopt the assembly line system.
The company named itself Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. in 1934.
Curating important cars and trucks spanning eight decades sounds like a monumental task, but it’s something that the company itself has taken to heart. It began in 1954 with a single car—the 1933 Datsun model 12 Phaeton. Today, the Nissan Zama Heritage Collection has over 450 cars including 114 racing and rally cars. However, due to limited space, only 350 or so are displayed at any given time. It’s impressive nonetheless given 70 percent of the collection is kept in drivable condition with specialists from NISMO and the Nissan Technical Center working to keep them running. And get this, one or two vehicles on the average actually join the Zama Heritage Collection on an annual basis with vehicles either donated by owners or purchased by Nissan themselves.
The Present: NISMO Festival
Commemorating its success on the racetrack over the course of the past year, NISMO, Nissan’s specialized motoring division, holds the NISMO Festival as their way of expressing gratitude to all their fans. One day in autumn since 1997, the Fuji International Speedway comes alive and transforms into a living exhibit dedicated to anything and everything Nissan.
At a time when other carmakers are cutting down on motorsports-related activities, Nissan has embraced this as part of their DNA. Through high-octane activities, they are not only able to bring technology from the racetrack to the road, but enable NISMO to reach a truly global audience. Mr. Hiroshi Tamura of the NISMO Business Office reveals the high uptick in sales for the motorsports, now specialized car division as well. From selling only a handful of cars before 2012, they now sell over 15,000 per year. And in the past three years alone, they have developed six full NISMO products.
Rows of makeshift tents offer all sorts of merchandise, scale models, stickers, and what have you from various brands including Calsonic, Motul, HKS, Endless, EBRO, and many more. After spending a day here, it’s impossible not to find yourself parting with some Yen. Of course, while this is all great for those looking for a bargain, snagging a great deal on new Bride seats, Rays wheels, or NISMO merchandise forms just a part of the total experience.
The best part of the NISMO Festival is complimentary pit tour. Normally closed to the public, the Fuji Speedway pits are filled with the finest metal from Nissan’s racing past and present including those from Japan Touring Car, Super GT, Le Mans, IMSA, and many more. If you find yourself lucky being there during the warm-up session, you can actually hear the drivers and engineers fire them up.
Getting up close to its famous race cars, seeing them in action on the track, and feeling the overall vibe on the circuit are enough to change your impression of Nissan; it’s this sort of activity that cannot be replicated by soulless PR speak. And while it may serve as a pat on the back for another year in motor racing, 2015 is extra special. Not only is NISMO celebrating its 30th year, it has successfully swept the Super GT winning both GT500 and GT300 categories as well as the Blancpain Endurance Series.
The Future: Nissan Advanced Technology Center
Having high-performance cars in its line-up is great, but Nissan also lives by a corporate social responsibility. In their case, they have an eye towards the future, making sure that everyone continuous to enjoy sustainable mobility. In that regard, they have identified four key issues affecting cars: dependency on fossil fuel, global warming, urban congestion, and increased traffic accidents.
Though Nissan has already dropped its corporate average fuel economy by 36 percent globally since 2005 and decreased fatal and serious injuries (at least in Japan) by 61 percent since 1995, they believe they can do more. In fact, they have taken the challenge to create future mobility with zero emissions and zero fatalities. And they believe they’ve found the breakthrough in two key aspects: electrification and vehicle intelligence.
In terms of the first aspect, they have been doing very well. The Nissan Leaf is the world’s best-selling EV selling already some 192,653 units as of September of this year. Cumulatively, these pure electric vehicles have done 3,711,022,567 kms or enough to go 12 times between the earth and the sun and have effectively reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 610,026 metric tons (compared to a conventional engine doing 15 km/L).
Though Leaf customers are generally happy with their cars (the satisfaction rating is above 75 percent), Nissan understands that their EV isn’t perfect with two problems: range anxiety and charging times. The first is solved by a newly developed denser 60 kWh battery pack. Only slightly larger than the Leaf’s 30kWh current battery, it enables the Leaf to travel more than 280 kilometers on a single charge. In addition, this new battery’s reduced impedance reduces the charging time required for a 100-kilometer journey to less than 10 minutes (currently, it needs around 15 minutes).
The second challenge for Nissan is to reduce traffic accident fatalities to zero with the help of their autonomous driving technology. Currently, carmakers are already adopting technology that enhances driving capability thanks to sensors (forward collision warning and adaptive cruise control to name a few), but Nissan has moved on to the next step.
Already adopting an experimental system on their Leaf, they’ve gone further and are going full on production. The reason is simple: Japan is ready. Because of their highly accurate road map, integrated data infrastructure, and high-speed internet, autonomous cars can be made a reality in the next few years. Next year alone, some Nissan modes will gain the capability to navigate traffic jams and single lane roads by itself with highway and multi-lane abilities arriving two years later. By 2020, Nissan hopes to have the first fully autonomous driving vehicle that can actually navigate and negotiate through the city including busy intersections.
The Nissan IDS Concept (Intelligent Driving) Concept is a perfect sample. First shown at the 44th Tokyo Motor Show 2015, it’s aimed at improving a driver’s ability to see, think, and react. It compensates for human error which accounts for over 90 percent of automobile-related accidents. Unlike other autonomous driving concepts, where the experience is akin to driving on virtual conveyor belts, the IDS Concept promises a very different experience. Even when the driver selects ‘Piloted Drive’, it imitates the driver’s personal style and preference in terms of accelerating, braking, and cornering.
Though it can be driven manually, the IDS Concept continues to provide assistance using sensors that monitors conditions and assistance. In the event of imminent danger, the car will assist the driver in taking evasive action.
Throughout its long history, Nissan has always looked at providing mobility for all; after all, it’s in their name. Though mobility is open to interpretation, whether it’s through dynamic performance, innovative design, or productive traveling, Nissan simply wants to forge a closer partnership with their drivers. They want their cars to become a reliable partner for drivers while at the same time having their cars connect to their owner’s life as a whole. They sum everything up in a single phrase: “Together We Ride”—it’s a future where Nissan automobiles and their owners can enjoy the ride as one.