As the global automotive industry faces unprecedented changes in a century, the rapid development of China's new energy market has become a touchstone for testing the evolutionary capabilities of automakers.

Recently, Nissan Motors, with the "Natural Evolution Plan" as its trumpet, has taken the lead among joint venture brands to break the curse of ineffective transformation to electrification and intelligence. Why did Nissan, rather than Honda or Toyota, initiate this transformation? The answer may be hidden in the multi-dimensional game of strategic decision-making, organizational reconstruction and ecological openness.

A radical turn under the pressure of crisis

Under the double pressure of Tesla and local new forces, traditional joint venture automakers are generally anxious about transformation. The cold market of Volkswagen ID series and the wavering electrification strategy of Toyota have exposed the poor adaptation of international brands to China's new energy track.

Nissan, however, has used the "Tianyan Plan" as a breakthrough point to build a complete technology ecosystem including the three-electric system, intelligent networking, and autonomous driving. Behind this transformation is the cruel market reality: Nissan's sales in China fell sharply by 12.2% year-on-year in 2024, and the monthly sales of the pure electric model Ariya fell to a freezing point.

The survival crisis forced Nissan to adopt "shock therapy" and focus on the core battlefield between China and the United States. Among Nissan's four major global regions, the Chinese market is a separate region. This deep localization strategy of "in China, for China" has broken the global unified product system commonly used by multinational automakers.

The market goals presented by Nissan's "Tianyan Plan" have distinct integration characteristics: by 2026, 5 new energy vehicle models will be launched, covering pure electric, plug-in hybrid, and extended-range full-power types; 10 billion yuan will be invested in research and development funds over three years, and the team size will be expanded to 4,000 people, focusing on tackling core technologies of electrification and intelligence.

The deeper transformation lies in the open reconstruction of the ecosystem. The battery laboratory jointly built with CATL promotes the commercialization of solid-state batteries, the end-to-end intelligent driving system in cooperation with Momenta realizes the implementation of urban NOA, and the natural language interaction accuracy of the car-machine system connected to the Hongmeng ecosystem reaches 98%. This ecological strategy of "not seeking to own everything, but seeking to use what is needed" breaks through the closed-loop technology model of traditional joint venture car companies.

In comparison, although Honda cooperates with Huawei, its core three-electric system still relies on external suppliers. Toyota emphasizes sole control, and its technology implementation cycle is obviously lagging behind.

Why Nissan took the lead in breaking through

The fact that Nissan was able to be the first to break through in the Japanese camp is essentially the result of the resonance of multiple pressures and strategic adjustments.

Excessive market loss is the first factor to bear the brunt. Nissan's market share in China will drop from 5.8% in 2018 to 3.2% in 2023, much higher than Honda's 4.1% and Toyota's 5.0%. This forces it to quickly launch new technologies and new products to regain market trust.

In addition, in the ideological change of transformation, Nissan's Chinese and foreign management teams reached a consensus on transformation early on. Its senior management publicly admitted that it was "lagging behind in the field of new energy" and initiated changes; while Toyota China did not appoint its first Chinese general manager until 2024, and the delayed localization of the decision-making level led to slow response to demand.

The courage to restructure the supply chain is the fundamental driving force behind Nissan's transformation as the first among the Big Three Japanese automakers. When Nissan's battery procurement turned to CATL and the localization rate of its three-electric system reached 80%, Toyota still relied on Japanese suppliers for 70% of its parts, and Honda's core technology was still controlled by external partners, resulting in disadvantages in cost and iteration speed.

In addition, due to the drag of global layout, Toyota needs to take into account the demand for fuel vehicles in Europe and the United States, Honda still plans to retain fuel models, and Nissan shrinks the European market to focus on the new energy battlefield between China and the United States. Moreover, Toyota is still obsessed with the hydrogen energy technology route, and Honda's electrification process is constrained by insufficient technical reserves, missing the window period of China's policy dividends.

The metaphor of the icebreaker era

When the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China exceeds 35%, all foreign brands face the ultimate choice: to continue to view China as a profit ATM, or to reconstruct it into a symbiotic entity of technological innovation?

Nissan's ice-breaking journey proves that the transformation of multinational automakers is not a simple technological replacement, but a systematic revolution involving strategic cognition, organizational genes and ecological relations. Those companies that are still wavering between "maintaining the global fuel vehicle base" and "sharing China's new energy dividends" may be like frogs in warm water, gradually losing vitality in the deep water competition of intelligence. The century-long changes in the automotive industry will ultimately belong only to those who dare to revolutionize themselves.

Its strategic vision of "going global" is also worth noting. The smart cockpit system developed by the Chinese team has been exported to the European market. This new cycle of "creating in China and exporting to the world" is rewriting the traditional technology flow direction of multinational auto companies.

Standing at the forefront of the century-long transformation of the automotive industry, the value of Nissan's "Evolution Plan" has surpassed the transformation scope of a single enterprise. It proves that multinational auto companies can achieve innovative transformation while maintaining their technological heritage. The key lies in whether they dare to reconstruct the value chain and reshape the organizational genes. Only by transforming the Chinese market from a simple sales market to a source of innovation can we win new survival rights in the industrial revolution.

Nissan's groundbreaking move is illuminating the way forward for foreign auto brands in China.