00:00President Trump took to TruthSocial congratulating Nissan for its manufacturing success in the U.S.
00:06Here to talk about all that is Nissan America's chairman Christian Meunier.
00:10Christian, great to have you on the program.
00:13I can't wait to talk about your products because I've been driving one recently, which I found really impressive.
00:19But I have to ask first about your manufacturing footprint.
00:22How important is it to you to be manufacturing here?
00:25And, you know, what are you doing with your plants, for example, in Mexico?
00:32Thank you. Thank you for inviting me.
00:34I'm very honored to have received that congratulation from the president of the U.S.
00:39It's a big honor.
00:41And obviously, we're very focused on producing where we sell.
00:45And obviously, with the tariff, it's been an accelerator in the right direction.
00:49We've been forced to accelerate the localization in the U.S., bring more production in the U.S.
00:56And, you know, plants in Tennessee and Mississippi were maxing out the production.
01:00Just to give you an idea, you know, a year ago in the month of January, 45 percent of the
01:05cars were selling in the U.S.
01:07were made in the U.S.
01:08And now we're above 60 percent.
01:09And the objective is really to reach an 80 percent mix of production in the U.S. for the U
01:15.S.
01:16At the same time, obviously, we still have a pretty significant footprint in Mexico.
01:21And we're building very affordable cars, so cars below $30,000.
01:25And we're very focused to get the cars down, obviously, to keep bringing them to the U.S.
01:30because affordability in the U.S. is a big issue.
01:33And obviously, the tariffs are killing us at this moment.
01:35So we'll have discussion with the U.S. government, the Mexican government, to see if there is a way for
01:40us to have a little bit of a break on the tariff.
01:43Because today, at 25 percent, it becomes very unsustainable.
01:46But we still absorb the cost at this moment and bring affordable cars.
01:51We have six cars below $30,000.
01:54And we're very proud of that.
01:56I think it's important for the U.S. consumers to have affordable cars with the right technologies and safety.
02:01And we're doing that.
02:02Christian, how have those conversations gone with those respective governments, with the U.S. and with Mexico?
02:08Are you optimistic that they're going to give you some sort of break around tariffs?
02:15It's been a challenge.
02:16It's been a challenge because I think these issues that we have on tariff is intertwined with other issues which
02:23are more political.
02:23And I don't want to dwell too much on that.
02:26But at least I think the governments are aware of the situation.
02:30And I think affordability is very important for the U.S. government.
02:33And hopefully, we're going to get some good news in the next few weeks so that we can continue to
02:38have affordable centrais and kicks for the American consumers.
02:42Why are you paying such big tariffs on Mexican cars?
02:45I mean, President Trump himself negotiated the U.S. MCA.
02:49At the time, he said it was the best deal ever.
02:51And are your plants not U.S. MCA compliant?
02:56Yeah, they are.
02:57They are.
02:58So that means we have some benefits having U.S. MCA product on the part side.
03:03But for the cars that we bring to the U.S., unfortunately, we have to deal with 25 percent tariff
03:08when, as you know, Europe is at 15, Japan at 15, and Korea at 15.
03:14So that means we have a disadvantage bringing the car from Mexico, which is a real problem because ultimately there
03:20are a lot of cars that are coming from the U.S.,
03:22a lot of engineering resources that were used from Michigan to get the product developed in Mexico.
03:28So ultimately, it's a big challenge that we have, that 25 percent, and hopefully we're going to get some equivalent
03:35leverage versus the other countries for import duties.
03:42Christian, what about the war in Iran?
03:44Is that creating any supply chain issues for you?
03:47It's not been a significant impact at this moment.
03:50I think we're obviously we're measuring and monitoring the situation in the Middle East every day.
03:55But so far, no impact, at least for this region, for the U.S., obviously, for Nissan altogether.
04:00We're pretty powerful.
04:02We have a pretty good footprint in the Middle East, so that impacts the business.
04:06But altogether, we're managing and monitoring the situation.
04:09So far, we're managing well.
04:10All right.
04:11I've got to ask about the Armada.
04:12I test drive a lot of cars for my podcast, Bloomberg Hot Pursuit, and I had just spent a week
04:17in the Cadillac Escalade V, which, as you know, is a monster with a supercharged V8.
04:23Then I got into this Nissan Armada.
04:26It's the Nismo edition, so kind of souped up, 460 horsepower, 516 pound-feet of torque.
04:31And it is truly impressive.
04:33I mean, the handling capabilities just blew me away for something that is and feels like a truck.
04:40It drives so well and seems to be priced far below your competition.
04:45How can you make this vehicle and still keep margins strong?
04:52I think we'll have the best-in-class product, and I'm also very much aware of what you're describing.
04:57I think the potential of Armada and QX80, which are siblings, is a lot bigger than what we're able to
05:04sell them today.
05:04I think it's mostly related to the fact that we're still limited in volume and availability.
05:09I think when we can increase availability, we'll have a little bit more marketing and advertising and promotion around the
05:16product.
05:17One project that we've been working on and that makes me very excited is a high-performance version of Armada
05:24and QX80 that is in the pipeline
05:25that I'm really eager to letting you test drive in the next few months.
05:31I think it's going to be a hell of a product, off-road, on-road.
05:35We need to bring some fun in automotive again.
05:38That's really critical.
05:40I'm looking forward to it, Christian.
05:41You know, I've noticed the price of the Armada, the Nismo, it compares, I guess, to Ford and GM vehicles,
05:51but they're all completely decontented.
05:54Like, when you option them up, your competitors start to cost $90,000 or $100,000 to your, like, $79
06:01,000.
06:03Why don't you decontent your vehicles like your competitors do and then force consumers to pay a ton of money
06:08when they want something like a heads-up display?
06:12I think you're totally right.
06:14I think we need to be more customer-focused, and sometimes we tend to have the wrong contents.
06:18And so my team and I are very focused on bringing the right product to the right customers at the
06:24right price.
06:25I think we need to have – the performance doesn't have to be super expensive either.
06:29I think we need to make it affordable for people to have fun and be able to enjoy a powertrain.
06:34If you make it too expensive, ultimately, you lose the potential to have people satisfied to drive the cars every
06:41day.
06:42You don't want to make it a niche product.
06:43I want the car to be seen.
06:45I want people to talk about it.
06:47And I think it's going to be ultimately good for Nissan.
06:50These are advocates for the brand.
06:52And affordability is core to the DNA of Nissan, and we need to keep it that way.
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