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Nissan, least profitable Japanese automaker in Q3, stays strong on EVs

Nissan had some not-so-good financial news to report today. Despite a 57-percent net income increase, Nissan was Japan's least-profitable carmaker for the third quarter of last year. A weak yen helped put the company's operating profit below the estimates of financial analysts. In a speech on the financial situation, Nissan corporate vice president Joji Tagawa said "These results, however, do not reflect the full potential of Nissan." Given our focus on expensive electric vehicles, among other things, we wondered how this might affect EVs. One of the financial analysts told Bloomberg that the news is a "crisis" at the company, but the official word is that things are steady as she goes on the EV front. In his speech, Tagawa reaffirmed the company's strong belief in plug-in vehicles, saying that "Nissan's EV strategy will accelerate with the launch in fiscal 2014 of the e-NV200, the second all-electric model available globally." That electric van has the potential "to transform emissions among commercial vehicles" and Nissan remains interested in initiatives such as EV carsharing in Japan and the continued deployment of charging infrastructure. The speech transcript is available below. In a statement to AutoblogGreen, Billy Hayes, Nissan's vice president and program director, said that, "Nissan considers zero emission vehicles to be the ultimate solution for realizing sustainable mobility in the future and is strongly committed to EV technologies. Nissan's investment in Leaf and EV technology is positive for the company's business results over the lifecycle, and accelerating sales of Leaf only help to build economies of scale and improve the business model for the technology further." FY13 3Q financial results Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Joji Tagawa, Corporate Vice President Introduction For the nine-month period, Nissan has made solid progress to improve its business performance. The pro forma nine-month financial results, and particularly those of the third quarter, are up compared to the same period last year, despite intense competition and uncertain economic conditions. These results, however, do not reflect the full potential of Nissan. Looking ahead to the quarter ending March 31, 2014, we expect to continue to improve our business results and as such, we are maintaining our prior profit outlook for the fiscal year.

Nissan axing Pathfinder Hybrid from 2016 lineup

The Nissan lineup gets a little smaller for the 2016 model year, as the Pathfinder Hybrid is dropped from the range. With its debut in late 2013, the electrically assisted SUV is one of the company's more recent introductions. However, it never really caught on with the public. "The Pathfinder Hybrid is not available in the US for the 2016 model year. Our emphasis is on the 3.5-liter V6 Pathfinder that achieves a best-in-class 20-city and 27-highway fuel economy," Nissan North America product communications director Dan Bedore confirmed to Autoblog. "Nissan has no announcement on future hybrid gasoline-electric powertrain applications at this time." Nissan actually ended production of the Pathfinder Hybrid in January, and "the hybrid was never a big part of Pathfinder sales," Bedore said to Automotive News. For the price premium, the electrically assisted version that combined a supercharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder and a 20-horsepower electric motor was only rated three or four miles per gallon better in EPA combined ratings than with the V6. However, while the company doesn't outline individual sales of the two, powertrain variants, the SUV is performing well so far this year. Through June 2015, sales are up 4.9 percent with 41,938 units sold. The future for the Infiniti QX60 Hybrid, which is the Pathfinder's more luxurious sibling, doesn't look very bright either. "For the United States, while the QX60 Hybrid continues to be available at some retailers across the country, our production is currently focused on the QX60 3.5 model," Infiniti spokesperson Kyle Bazemore told Autoblog. However, the vehicle is still in production at the Smyrna, TN, factory for export to places like China and Mexico. According to Bazemore if demand happens to increase in the US, "we have the manufacturing ability to make them available." Overall, QX60 sales are also up 14 percent this year in the US.

Foreign automakers pay from $38 to $65 per hour to non-union workers

As leaders for the United Auto Workers gather in Detroit for their Special Convention on Collective Bargaining to work out the negotiating stance for this year's new labor agreements with the Detroit 3 automakers, what they most want to do is figure out how to eliminate the two-tier wage scale. However, the lower Tier 2 wage has allowed the domestic automakers to reduce their labor costs, hire more workers, and compete better with their import competition. As it stands, per-hour labor rates including benefits are $58 at General Motors, $57 at Ford, and $48 at Fiat-Chrysler – a reflection of FCA's much greater number of Tier 2 workers. The Center for Automotive Research released a study of labor rates (including benefits) that put numbers to what the imports pay: Mercedes-Benz pays the most, at an average of $65 per hour, Volkswagen pays the least, at $38 per hour, and BMW is just a hair above that at $39 per hour. Among the Detroit competitors, Honda workers earn an average of $49 per hour, at Toyota it's $48 per hour, Nissan is $42 per hour, and Hyundai-Kia pays $41 per hour. The lower import wages are aided by their greater use of temporary workers compared to the domestics. Automotive News says the ten-dollar gap between those foreign camakers and the domestics turns out to about an extra $250 per car in labor, which adds up quickly when you're pumping out many millions of cars. That $250-per-car number is one that, come negotiating time, the Detroit 3 will want to reduce, as the UAW is trying to raise both Tier 1 and Tier 2 wages. Another wrinkle is that the domestic carmakers are considering the wide adoption of a third wage level lower than Tier 2. Some workers who do minor tasks like assembling parts trays kits and battery packs already make less than Tier 2, but the UAW will be quite wary about cementing yet another wage scale at the bottom of the system while it's trying to fight a bigger battle at the top. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req., BloombergImage Credit: AP Photo/Erik Schelzig Earnings/Financials UAW/Unions BMW Chevrolet Fiat Ford GM Honda Hyundai Kia Mercedes-Benz Nissan Toyota Volkswagen labor wages collective bargaining labor costs