Nissan Was Dying. Now It Has An Enthusiast CEO And A Fighting Chance
Things look pretty rough for Nissan right now. The company just walked away from a merger with Honda. Now it’s cutting 20,000 jobs and shuttering factories worldwide. The headlines paint a grim picture. But here’s the thing: they might actually pull this off.
The Car Guy CEO
On April 1, 2025, Nissan made its smartest move in years. The company promoted Ivan Espinosa to CEO. He’s been with Nissan since 2003, working his way up from product specialist. More importantly? Espinosa is a known car enthusiast. He reportedly commutes in a Z, underscoring his passion for performance vehicles.
His dream is to build an entire lineup of sports cars. Think a new Silvia, a fresh GT-R—the whole package. We’ve seen this playbook work before. Akio Toyoda transformed Toyota into an enthusiast brand with the introduction of the GR86, GR Corolla, and GR Supra.
Jim Farley brought back the Bronco at Ford. Tim Kuniskis is steering Ram and SRT back to their performance roots. Car guys running car companies usually work out.
The Brutal Plan
Espinosa launched “Re:Nissan” less than a month into the job. It’s a seven-point recovery plan built on aggressive cuts. Nissan is scaling back from 17 plants to just 10. Two design studios are getting axed. Two upcoming electric sedans got canceled. Over 3,000 R&D employees moved to cost-cutting projects.
The goal? Slash $1.7 billion in expenses by April 2027.
The Weird Advantage
Nissan was slow on EVs. That looked stupid at the time. Now? Competitors are scrambling to bring back gas cars as EV demand tanks. Ford and GM went all-in on electric. Now they’re stuck unwinding those bets. Nissan only has the Ariya to worry about. And it’s already leaving the US. Being late suddenly looks smart.
Sales Are Actually Up
The new “Nissan One” dealer program launched in May. It pays dealers up to $1,200 per car for hitting volume targets. It’s working too. Nissan’s U.S. sales are up 1.5 % this year. Several models are crushing it:
| Nissan Model | YTD 2025 Sales | YTD 2024 Sales | % Increase | MSRP (Base, 2025) | U.S. Market Rank (2025 YTD) |
| Kicks | 76,638 | 52,144 | 47% | $21,830 | ~#65 |
| Pathfinder | 72,285 | 58,896 | 22.7% | $36,400 | ~#70 |
| Versa | 41,463 | 29,302 | 41.5% | $17,190 | ~#90 |
| Murano | 32,400 | 14,437 | 124.4% | $40,470 | ~#105 |
| Z | 4,822 | 2,175 | 121.7% | $42,970 | ~#180 |
The Kick’s sales are up 47 %. The Murano jumped 124 %. Even the Z more than doubled its sales. People want affordable cars, and Nissan has them. It’s that simple.
What’s Coming
A new Sentra is coming to fight the Civic. An Xterra off-roader arrives in 2028. Infiniti might build a manual performance sedan. And the big one? Nissan confirmed in May: “The GT-R will be back, without a doubt.” Most expected it to go electric. But with EV demand cratering and a car guy CEO? There’s hope for a gas engine.
Conclusion
Yes, Nissan is bleeding right now. Jobs are gone. Factories are closing. But an enthusiast is running the show. Sales are trending up. The strategy makes sense. Don’t count them out yet. So do you want to see a petrol GT-R or an electric one? Let us know in the comments below. Keep following the Arabwheels Blog for more industry insights like this.