In an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya News’ Hadley Gamble, Carlos Ghosn, speaking from Beirut, praised BYD’s meteoric rise in the EV market and criticized Nissan’s strategic missteps in the United States.
He emphasized:
“Oh, without doubt… They are competitive… I think the head of Nissan should be very scared when they see this kind of [car] coming, particularly at the price where they are present.”
Notably, he highlighted BYD’s market strength:
“BYD today is practically at the same level of [revenue] as Tesla… which is unbelievable.”
“BYD is worth four times more than Renault… six or seven times more than Nissan.”
Discussing industry trends, he warned:
“This industry, if you do not understand what’s coming and you do not execute and adapt… you’re gonna lose in the game very quickly.”
Ghosn also reflected on Tesla’s position:
“Tesla is going through maybe a rough patch now, but… it’s a very innovative company… They’re going to have a tough competition, particularly coming from the Chinese.”
A scathing critique of Nissan
When asked what he would have done as CEO, Ghosn was critical of Nissan’s U.S. strategy:
“I would have already loaded the plants in the United States a long time ago.”
He faulted Nissan management for underutilizing its Tennessee facility:
“They didn’t use it fully because the management wanted to privilege some of the production coming from Japan. Terrible mistake.”
“It’s difficult for people in Tennessee to see such a plant not being loaded… while you continue to ship a lot of cars from Japan.”