Nissan has sped up its European electrification strategy, raising it from the goal of achieving 75 per cent fully electric or hybrid sales by 2026, to 98 per cent. It is also looking to increase electrified sales in native Japan, but has cut its ambition in China. 

Like many Japanese carmakers, whilst Nissan may historically be a leader in electrification, it has less than big ambitions for going fully electric. Dogmatic approaches at the top of large, rigid corporate structures have dogged companies like Nissan and its counterparts, meaning that more agile companies from Korea and Europe have stolen the charge (pardon the pun).

However, recognising that it will soon be clobbered by markets which are weaning themselves off of internal combustion, Nissan has acted and is pulling forward some of its electrification targets in key markets.

In Europe, this means that it is now targeting 98 per cent electric or hybrid sales by 2026 – up from 75 per cent which is a target it set two years ago. In Japan, a more modest increase from 50 per cent to 58 per cent is in the company’s sights.

To achieve this, it is investing £12bn in its model range to electrify existing models (we suspect with iterations of its e-POWER petrol-electric/hybrid system) as well as making all-new EV models to join the LEAF and Ariya. As a result, Nissan will have 27 electrified models – including 19 EVs – by 2030, up from 23 and 15 new cars with respective powertrains.

Across the pond, Nissan will move all of its EV production for the American market into the US in order to take advantage of incentives and meet supply-chain requirements. By 2030, it is targeting 40 per cent EV sale.

Globally, and including sister brand Infiniti, 55 per cent of Nissan’s sales will be electrified by 2030 – up from the 50 per cent that it announced as part of its ‘Ambition 2030’ plan from a couple of years ago. This is hardly breath-taking in a world of brands going fully electric, but it is progress.

Despite these forward strides in electrification, money talks and when it comes to China, Nissan has reduced its goal from 40 per cent to 35 per cent by 2026. This is a pragmatic decision based on the fact that Chinese EV buyers prefer to buy Chinese EVs and quite simply, Nissan would struggle to make inroads into that market.

By the end of the decade, we can expect all of Nissan’s cars to be EV or electrified across Europe.