Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 19

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

TALK FROM THE TOP

Mindset shift
Nissan exec explains why EV owners are hooked on the technology for life

long with being Nissan's global sales
and marketing boss, Daniele Schillaci
heads the automaker's zero-emissions vehicle and battery business, which means
he plays a prominent role in the Japanese
automaker's electrification and future mobility plans. The former Renault, Alfa Romeo and Toyota executive, who joined Nissan at its Yokohama headquarters roughly
two years ago, says that Nissan's EV customers have told him that all their future
cars will have an electrified powertrain. He
discussed this and more in an interview
with Automotive News Europe Associate
Publisher and Editor Luca Ciferri and Automotive News Asia Editor Hans Greimel.
Global sales of electric vehicles are
sluggish at best. Why?
When we launched the Leaf eight years
ago, EVs were seen as far off into the
future. If you look now at what other
automakers are doing, in many different segments, you clearly see that EVs
are coming. Nevertheless, for EVs to
become an established part of the market there needs to be an adequate recharging infrastructure and incentives to
help customers with their higher starting price compared with a conventional
model. Where there has been the combination of purchasing incentives and
infrastructure development, such as in
some northern European countries, EVs
have achieved a significant presence.
Would you agree that in many markets, including California, most EV
sales are hollow? They are not bought
by private customers because they
like them. They are pushed into the
market by automakers forced to comply with emissions regulations.
I've recently spoken with Nissan customers in California and I strongly disagree.
They love the idea of driving an emissions-free vehicle and they love the Leaf's
acceleration. They say that after owning
an EV, they will never go back to a vehicle
powered solely by an internal combustion engine. If a new technology is only
for legislative compliance and does not
offer any clear benefit for the customer, it
will probably fail. I saw true customer engagement. EVs make their driving more

2017

In Partnership with

Meet the
sales & EV boss
❚ NAME: Daniele Schillaci
❚ T
ITLE: Nissan Motor Executive

Vice President for Global
Marketing and Sales

❚ AGE: 52
❚ M
AIN CHALLENGE:

Making Nissan's goal of
achieving zero emissions
and zero fatalities a reality.

fun while benefitting the environment.
It's a win-win combination that creates
strong consumer satisfaction.
How would you define the Nissan Intelligent Mobility program that you lead?
Although Nissan created today's volume
EV market with the debut of the Leaf in
2010, the company was convinced that
electrification would be just one piece of
the future mobility puzzle, which also includes a strong connected car environment as well as a suite of safety systems
to prevent accidents from happening. To
put this into a short marketing statement: Nissan Intelligent Mobility is our
vision for a future with zero emissions
and zero fatalities.
There are rumors that the next Nissan EV will be a crossover. What can
you say about that?
SUVs and crossovers are a part of Nissan's DNA, so it makes perfect sense to
also work on electrification for this part
of the market, which is experiencing
massive growth all over the world.
Do you have a launch date?
It will come.

What about a low-cost EV for China?
China needs entry EV models with an onthe-road range of about 100km and a price
around $7,000 to $8,000 (about 6,500 euros to 7,400 euros). It is a difficult product
and price proposition, but because this
vehicle is important for China and China is
important to Nissan we are working on it.
Could China become the world's largest EV market?
If you look at the 2016 figures, China
was already No. 1 globally thanks to a
75 percent rise in sales to 256,000 electric passenger cars.
Several experts predict that the next
battery technology breakthrough won't
come until 2025. Do you agree?
It is too early to say. The evolution of
the electrode chemistry is already happening and a lot of tests are being done
by different automakers and suppliers
around the world. We see 2025 as a
period when we will benefit from several improvements in the entire electric
drivetrain. Big changes will probably
happen after 2025. ANE

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