Nissan Americas Chairman Christian Meunier is speaks plainly about why he left his previous employer, Stellantis, in 2023: “I didn’t really agree with the strategy to go up in price. I think there is a limit of what you can do.”
Meunier spent 17 years at Nissan in various roles before changing jobs to lead Jeep beginning in 2019 where he reported to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley before the merger with PSA Group that created Stellantis. From 2021, he reported directly to the key decision maker, former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares.
During Tavares’s tenure, it was decided that Jeep would forge ahead with more premium product, a plan that, when implemented, raised prices, saw a steep sales decline and soured relationships with dealers.
Current brand CEO Bob Broderdorf has spent the last year righting the ship, taking over from current Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa, who served as brand CEO between the Broderdorf and Meunier.
Bringing the right vehicles to market at the right price for Nissan customers is something Meunier passionately told Newsweek about during an interview in Japan last month.
“One thing that I keep repeating and working really hard with Ponz [Pandikuthira, senior vice president, chief product and planning officer for Nissan Americas] on… is to deliver the family of five the right [-priced vehicle], with durability being super critical… The cost has to be right so that we can price it at the right level, so these vehicles remain affordable, because there’s no point in us pricing ourselves in the premium world. We’re never going to be successful.” Meunier explained.
Selling vehicles that are priced right shouldn’t come at the expense of good design, easy drivability and high-tech features, the chairman told assembled media.
“We’re not an appliance company. We’re not selling fridges and washing machines. We’re selling mobility, but exciting mobility, and we know that even now, … a lot of kids love cars, and they want to have a nice car that looks good, and that’s an extension of their personality. So, we need to bring some exciting stuff. And I think that’s what we’re doing and working hard on,” Meunier said.
Nissan will continue to utilize the same shared platform strategy for INFINITI that has worked well for other automakers. It mirrors the way General Motor uses the same underpinnings for both its Chevrolet and GMC brands.
Sharing platforms and parts doesn’t mean that INFINITIs will just be differently badged Nissans. Meunier is committed to investing in, “what really matters to the to the consumer, which means on technology, on premium-ness, on customer experience and on the driving dynamics of the car,” he said. “Not fluff—it’s real.”
Rather than benchmark Chevrolet and GMC, Munier sees another automaker as providing the roadmap for success in this arena. “I think there is a very good benchmark in the industry, Lexus. It’s a pretty good job leveraging Toyota. We want to take it to another level, which is more exciting than what is offered in the brand new world, but still leveraging Nissan, which has not been done always very well in the past,” Meunier admitted.
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