Episode Details

China Speed

The Germans take at least seven years to roll out a new car, while the Japanese typically need five to six years for the same task, depending on what kind of model. The Chinese, on the other hand, target a development period of just 24 months. By all means, that's as rapid as it gets, and it's not going to be easy to match that.

Legacy automakers have called it China Speed, and the pressure is on for other carmakers. Led by software-first designs, lower costs, and healthy subsidization from the government, it allows Chinese automakers to easily undercut the competition, nipping away at their once seemingly impenetrable market share.

Nissan May Have Cracked It

You may have heard that Nissan was able to develop the new-generation Skyline in record time. That's mainly thanks to the assistance of AI, halving it to just 26 months. With that, the Japanese automaker isn't that far off from China Speed. But it's not just AI that's helping the company cut development times, as reported by Automotive News.

Kazuyuki Yamaguchi, one of Nissan's corporate executives for product development, told the press that the automaker needed an extensive overhaul and mindset shift when it came to building cars. "We have totally changed the process. Chinese players are intensifying the competition, so we need to be competitive enough. We need to introduce attractive products into the market more quickly. Otherwise, we won’t survive. It's a very simple message," said Yamaguchi.

The all-new Skyline/Infiniti Q50 is just the start, as Nissan will start applying the lessons learned from the sport sedan's development to other future models. So, how did the automaker get close to China Speed?

Four Guiding Principles

Nissan's sudden burst of speed can be attributed to four guiding principles. These are prioritizing specifications, maximizing vehicle platforms, simplifying development teams and project management, and, of course, more AI assistance.

For prioritizing specifications, Nissan is focusing on enhancing a vehicle's value by focusing on its best attributes and target market. "We polish what the car excels at and focus our investment in the strongest aspects. We set the target by trying to look at the balance, rather than doing everything perfectly," said Yamaguchi. As for platform sharing, there will be more of that with more models under a common umbrella in terms of chassis, powertrain, and even design.

Nissan used to have three leaders for a single project, namely the program director, product planning manager, and