'We should be in a better place': New Nissan boss sets sights on climbing sales charts by playing up Australian connections

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Nissan Australia will leverage its local connections to try and regain a more commanding position on the sales charts under the watch of a new boss.

The brand's new Managing Director and Vice-President of Nissan Oceania Andrew Humberstone, having been in the top job since April this year, laid out his vision for the car maker to local media.

"One of the biggest challenges that we had is around brand differentiation because we’re a very strong brand," Humberstone said.

"But actually, if you look at where we are, in terms of our market share, it raises a number of questions because, arguably, we should be in a better position."

Year-to-date sales put Nissan in ninth place with 31,593 sales to the end of August, ahead of 10th-placed Subaru (28,348), but despite the brand's 32.1 per cent year-on-year growth, it is still well behind leading marques like Toyota (165,496), Ford (66,261), and Mazda (65,286), and even MG (32,255) and Isuzu Ute (33,648).

For the 2023 calendar year, Nissan Australia netted a total of 39,376 sales, but its all-time high watermark was achieved in 2012 when its vehicles found 79,747 new homes.

However, Humberstone would not be drawn on a targeted market position or how long it will take for Nissan Australia, instead stating that the goal is to stick to a plan.

"It's not about rankings, it's about authenticity, it's about culture," Humberstone told Drive.

"I think moving from being vanilla to being something that's – even if you're sitting in a competitor product to say 'oh, I know what Nissan stands for' – it's that differentiator.

"Now does that aspiration improve volume? Of course, it does because the business case is better for our dealers, it's better for our customers, and it serves our business model.

"Credibly, we should be in a better place. Why we are not is arguably because we haven't managed this brand strategy as well as we could have."

However, another play to attract more customers is highlighting Nissan's strong Australian connections and roots, according to Humberstone.

"The first Datsuns arrived here back in 1934, so we have a long history in the market," he said.

"We have a legacy here, but we've never talked about it, and we don't share that and customers don't realise it and I think some of our dealers don't necessarily realise it.

"I think it's fair to say that we're actually quite deeply rooted in the Australian history.

"That's something we're absolutely going to change."

Humberstone claims that Nissan is the third largest OEM automotive employer and boasts the fifth largest dealer network around the country (behind Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi) that covers 90 per cent of Australia's population centres.

The new Managing Director also pointed out that Nissan still runs a casting plant in Dandenong – making it the only big-name OEM that still has a local manufacturing presence – which produces 1.2 million high-pressure die-cast components and 16,000 towbars per year.

In addition, Nissan is also part of an alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi, with the three operating a world-first parts warehouse in Melbourne's West that opened in 2018, and has capacity for 100,000 components across the brands.

Nissan Australia's new boss also claims that 74 per cent of the Navara ute's accessory revenue is born from Australia-made parts such as bullbars, sportsbars, and towbars.

Finally, the success and recognition on the world stage Nissan's partnership with local engineering firm Premcar to produce off-road focussed Warrior variants of the Navara and Patrol to factory standards is also a boon, according to Humberstone.

"I think it's a missed opportunity to just share the authenticity that we have, on being a committed investor in Australia, and arguably the most authentic brand in this market – given all of these components in terms of 'Australianness'," he said.

"All of these components really underpin the business and we have a clear understanding of what we need to do in terms of brand.

"We have a clear understanding around the structure of the business, the products within our business, the people that are within the process, and the stakeholders and the importance of the dealers in the dealer network."

Naturally, competitive products are also part of the plan, but with most of Nissan's portfolio having recently been refreshed – including Qashqai, Juke, X-Trail, Pathfinder, and Z – headline-stealing showroom arrivals won't come until later as the all-new Patrol isn't due in late 2026, the Ariya electric SUV won't arrive until the second half of 2025, and another generation of Leaf and Navara are scheduled sometime before March 2027.

To end, Humberstone made it clear that his ambitions for Nissan would far outlive his time in the top job Down Under.

"How do we do things differently better, but with credibility and authenticity? The plan for Australia and New Zealand has to be authentic," he said.

"It has to be something that is here and part of the brand long after I’m gone, it has to be part of a 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-year narrative.

"I think it’s really important that we look at the next 10 years and say, 'How is this business going to be transformed? And how is the industry being transformed? And what is our role as one of the leading brands in this market to help steer and navigate that to the benefit and advantage of our customers.'

"We are all about the customer at the end of the day, your purpose has to be customer-driven."

The post 'We should be in a better place': New Nissan boss sets sights on climbing sales charts by playing up Australian connections appeared first on Drive.