Renault-Samsung motors, another subsidiary in the greater Renault-Nissan alliance empire has just launched its "New SM3" model. The new model however will not replace the existing SM3 but will be sold alongside it. The new SM3 is powered by a 1.6-liter petrol H4M engine mated to a Xtronic CVT transmission. Rated fuel economy is 15km / litre. The New SM3 is built of Renault-Nissan's C-platform which also underpins the Qashqai SUV (Renault-Samsung QM5). The model is developed at the cost of 20 billion Korean Won in 31 months. It's main competition in the South Korean domestic market is the Hyundai Avante, which most of us outside of South Korea will know as the Hyundai Elantra, which the South Korea's best selling model in the segment.
Jean Marie Hurtiger, CEO of Renault-Samsung Motors at the launch of the New SM3. Yes he doesn't look too happy. Maybe someone pissed at his breakfast in the morning.
Unveiling at the 2009 Seoul Motor Show
As some of you might know, the outgoing SM3 is what most of us outside South Korea will know as the Nissan Sentra / Sunny. The SM3 is sold under the Nissan badge with a different front fascia and rear section in many parts of Asia Pacific.
Sometimes the many different names can be rather confusing. The outgoing N16 is sold as the Sentra in Malaysia, Sunny in Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, Almera classic in Russia and Middle East. The model has since been discontinued in Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. In Japan, the Sunny nameplate have long been discontinued. There was also another Nissan model bearing the Sentra nameplate in USA but this model has little in common with the Asian Sentra due to the vastly different product positioning, requirements and crash safety legislation for the North American Sentra (in the same way the US Ford Focus has almost nothing to do with the European Focus).
The outgoing SM3
Earlier model SM3
Asian Sentra (Singapore,Hong Kong)
Asian Sentra (Malaysia)For the new SM3, Renault-Samsung mentioned that the vehicle will also be exported under the Renault badge, but stopped short of saying any particular export destinations. But it is believed that these will be all left hand drive markets. In other words, the Sentra / Sunny nameplate under Nissan will be retired when local market production ends. It's position in the market have already been filled by the Tiida / Latio / Versa model.
Which is a bit of a pity, because the Sunny nameplate have a very long history behind them. Older readers will remember that at one time, everyone took their driving lessons in a Datsun Sunny B110. In fact until today I am not sure why some of the local Nissan distributors in many Asian countries decided to replace the Sunny nameplate with the Sentra name. Singapore continued to use the Sunny name but Malaysia adopted the Sentra badge, and what's more confusing is that Nissan cars in both countries were distributed by the same Tan Chong Motors Group. This might not mean much to most automotive savvy readers but you will be surprise how important is badge familiarity to the average consumer (who probably makes up 90% of the car buying public). After all, didn't Toyota and Honda maintained their Corolla and Civic nameplate until today after so many decades of market presence? When the Altis was launched, Toyota did not drop the Corolla name but merely added the "Altis" suffix to it, as a way of saying this is a newer version of the Corolla you grew up with / you had before. The same old peace of mind pleasant ownership, updated with 21st century technology.
At one time, the Sentra models (B13 and B14 generation Sentra) made up almost the entire fleet of the "legendary" Genting Highlands taxis. Their class leading fuel economy, mechanical reliability and forgiving handling made it a favourite by our local "touge" masters - the infamous Genting Highland taxi drivers who know every single corner, kink and cambers of this mountain road at the back of their head. So reliable are the B13 Sentra / Sunny models that the car is still in production until today in Mexico, as the Nissan Tsuru.
Let's pay a tribute to the Sentra / Sunny.
Others Renault-Samsung developed models, sold in overseas market under the Nissan / Renault badge.
Renault-Samsung SM7 - Nissan Teana and rumoured to replacement for Renault Laguna.
Renault-Samsung QM5 - Nissan Qashqai / Dualis and Renault Koleos
A new entry level compact sedan is also in the plans, codenamed L02B - based on the Nissan March hatch. More here. Some say that this may actually be the new "Sunny / Sentra" for developing markets.
10 comments:
Why Tan Chong renamed Sunny to Sentra?? Because of the price issue-lah !!
I remembered the time when my auntie bought the Corolla 1.3DX for less than RM15k. At that time, Sunny was selling around RM13k. Sunny was viewed as cheap but long lasting and economy to run. Corolla was viewed a little bit "higher class" compared to the Sunny.
When Proton launched, the price of foreign cars (CKD)increased horribly !!! Price of Corola (Altis) & Civic shot up to around RM120k, while Sentra (the new Sunny) priced almost RM100k.
So, imagine, one who viewed Sunny as an ordinary man car... will he pay such a high price for it? Civic at one that was nicknamed as "Asia BMW", Corolla added the Altis to its name.
Why Toyota introduced Lexus to the USA? Because the Toyota brand in the USA, cannot compete with BMW or Mercedes :)
Yea the Proton factor probably explained the difference between Malaysia and Singapore models. But I still wonder about other markets in Asia. Maybe the company felt it needs to distant itself from the Sunny nameplate for a similar brand image reason.
Nissan have lost quite a number of years to the competition.
1. The name change from Datsun to Nissan.
2. The internal family dispute of Tan Chong Motor Group.
3. Reorganization of the principal Nissan Motor Co. under Renault-Nissan alliance.
4. Discontinuation of the Cefiro nameplate which at one time was giving the Camry and Accords a run for their money, Serena which pioneered the affordable MPV segment only to have Toyota taking the entire concept to an even lower end of the market with the Unser. All the branding work and customers, lost as Nissan never had a replacement for them to upgrade their cars to.
I read one article, many years back, saying that Datsun (at that time) was trying all the way to beat Toyota and lost a great amount of money. Its design was squarish, boring, thus don't really attract many buyers.
The Japanese management thought of making Datsun sound more Japanese, thus using back its original name; Nissan (base on my analysis).
When they created the Infiniti brand (to compete with Lexus), they insisted that the Infiniti showroom in USA to be renovated into Japanese style eg sliding paper door, expensive pond etc. This is another big mistake. Imagine an American step into a showroom that is so "Japanese", would he feel comfortable?? Due to this, the sale of Infiniti drop. When no $$$ generated, the quality of Infiniti declined :(
Nissan is losing big money in Infiniti, and the Nissan brand itself (when it tried to compete with Toyota to become No 1). It fell into great financial crisis and without any choice, it has to sell 1/3 of its share to Renault. (if not mistaken, today Renault own 45% of Nissan)
When Ghosn came into Nissan, he changed the tradition business culture of Japan HORRIBLY, firing around 30,000 employees including great engineers. This is really a disaster to the Japanese culture. Back in the 80s, my Japanese pen-pal told me that when they employed with a company, they will work hard for the company for life. BIG Thank you to the GREAT GHOSN, he has changed the Japanese mentality :( :(
Why Cefiro name is changed to Teana?? It sounded like Si Fai Lo, in Cantonese, it mean Fat guy die. No doubt, the Cefiro is a good car, which I feel, it is above Camry & Accord.
I always told myself, if I wanted a Japanese car, I WILL NOT buy one that is run by a MAD-SAILOR (mat salleh).
I came across that article too. Either in Wall Street Journal or BusinessWeek, maybe NY Times.
Carlos Ghosn made some difficult decision. But it was not just Ghosn who put an end to the lifetime employment mentality for the Japanese. Many Japanese manufacturers and retailers too had to retrench staff in the '97 crisis.
But let's put it this way, the Japanese managers had their chance. In fact decades of it. There were many wasteful practises in the pre-Ghosn era Nissan. One of it is those "honorary senior positions mentioned." The company fell apart under Japanese leadership. Ghosn had to close plants and "amputate" certain parts of the body to save the whole "person." Of course I had to admit it is easy to say this when my own job is not on the line. So your pen-pals views are understandable.
On hindsight Nissan seems stronger now under Ghosn with Renault that it was as a purely Japanese company. I would recommend reading the book Shift. But of course, it was written by Ghosn himself thus it was his view of things.
Nissan was partially destroyed by its Japanese management bcos of their "EGO" to become No 1.
"Carlos Ghosn made some difficult decision"
I don't think so. It is just the western mentality! Look at GM, Chrysler, IBM, HP etc, chopping employees whenever they faced with difficulties.
What's make GM bankrupt, after surviving for hundred years?? Look at their Leaders.. many just think of their own pocket... Rick Wagoner - Obama kick his ass, yet he still receive millions (not few millions but tenths of millions) for his retirement.
Lee Iaccoca, he has left Chrysler for donkey of years, yet, until lately, he is still receiving benefit from Chrysler (before it bankrupt).
So, don't you think they are much worst than the Japanese "honorary senior positions" ??
Let compare Toyota with GM & Nissan.
1. Toyota took years of research before they launched the Tundra. Nissan rushed into the full size truck business.
2. Have you read the article; Toyoda scolded Toyota for mirroring the bankrupted GM, concentrate in big truck and luxury cars. Today, Toyota is at a much better stage compared to others but yet they are never proud of it. They continue to search for their mistake, recognised it and plan for improvement.
3. Toyota groom their leaders. See how the baton was passed eg; from Fujio Cho , Watanabe Katsuaki and now, Akio Toyoda. No doubt, many said that Katsuaki was forced to step down but many years ago, Akio is being trained to take over, maybe now, its being fast forward. However, if Ghosn died today, what will happen to Nissan/Renault tomorrow?
4. When Toyota launched the Hybrid, GM laughed at it. Today, GM is talking about Volt. Is there any innovative technology by Nissan under Ghosn??
5. Renault and Nissan share same platform. But what is the different between Renault and Nissan? Isn't both Renault and Nissan ordinary cars?? Toyota shared its platform with Lexus. Toyota is viewed as ordinary cars but Lexus is at the Luxury segment. Back in Japan, some Daihatsu are sold as Toyota. Maybe bcos of its people confidence in Toyota brand; eg more Toyota Rush is sold compared to Daihatsu Bego etc.
Japan has a great culture, luckily, at least Toyota is still maintaining it. Leaders are groomed before they take over the big task. Many just pick a Tom Dick & Henry, whom they feel is great, to run their company.
There are many good books on Toyota. They maybe singing high before down fall, but then who will has the crystal ball to foresee the future.
Today, GM sold more cars in China. This could due to Daewoo (Korea) which has all the small cars. It could also be the anger that are still felt by the Chinese during the Japanese occupation.
I m a Chinese. But then, we have move on.. move forward. We can't go back to change the history. We only can ACKNOWLEDGE such incident happened, FORGIVE - what is done cannot be undo and LEARN from it.
On the above :
I think laying off staff have been accepted as part of the modern Japanese corporate culture now. Lifetime employment went out the window with '97 crisis. Actually Toyota plants all over the world have been laying people off, even before '97. Just that shit hit the fan in '97 and it was magnified. Many plant workers in Japanese companies (not just cars) are temp staffs. Most of them are hired to fill a "temp need" and most are never confirmed as fulltime staffs even after more than 2 years of service. It is not too different from American firms actually.
I thought Nissan was in the full size truck before Toyota. Nissan Titan?
On the succession post-Ghosn. That is a valid point that I have highlighted in the post - the problem with larger than life CEOs. It's not just with Ghosn-san. Same applies to Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, etc. But Akio Toyoda seems more likely to track the path of Bill Ford Junior on hindsight.
Ghosn did explain on his stance on hybrids in an interview, and I kind of agree with him. Economically speaking hybrids are not viable for any car company, and I think most can agree to that. Not even Honda managed to make it commercially viable. But Toyota however does not have an "ordinary path" to follow. I have written before on Toyota's support from the Japanese government. Even former TMS President Jim Press acknowledged that TMC was "subsidized" by the Japanese government to develop the Prius. after he left Toyota for Chrysler (though he retracted the statement later). So Ghosn missed out the political aspect of Toyota before dismissing hybrids.
Nissan knows it cannot realistically challenge Toyota on hybrids and decided to license the technology from Toyota. Nissan's resources is geared at leap frogging hybrids and go straight into EVs. They are a partner of Project Better Place. Wrote about this sometime back but you can Google it up. Latest country I heard is China (Wuhan province), besides Aussie, Denmark, Israel, Norway, Sweden.
Renault is strong in Europe and Central-South America while Nissan is strong in Asia Pacific and USA. Neither of them are fully utilizing their plants and could further benefit from common parts purchasing. So there was a strong reason behind the alliance.
However I do agree that Japanese companies have far better grooming and succession planning. The much talked about GE Way by Jack Welsh - well one of his portege was Robert Nardelli and look at Home Depot and Chrysler under his care. Instead of promoting teamwork like the Japanese, American corporate culture likes to pit individuals against each other to select the strongest. It might work in the short term but I cannot understand how can promoting disharmony can have a long term benefit to the organization.
On the Chinese cnnsumers aversion towards Japanese cars - well I heard of a Chinese expat associate who bought a Naza-Peugeot 206 simply because he refused to buy a Japanese product. It's the same thing with Korea but the younger generation are starting to be more receptive.
Temp staff should be employed temporary, however, in Japan, one temp staff could work for as long as 5 years or more.. Perhaps in Japan context; full time staff are those who serve the company for life :D
So far, Toyota has only removed its temp staff, while still maintaining its full time employee. Which is why the full time staff at Tundra plant were asked to do welfare work or attend training during the shutdown.
Ghosn is NOT a hero. He just changed the Japanese culture with the western one. Just like Rick Wagoner, he is likely to receive millions, perhaps billions when he retire. Isn't this is much worst than the Japanese "honorary senior positions" ??
EV, Hydrogen, Fuel Cell.. No one know what is the fuel of the future. GM has been singing high on its EV, but its already death before its was launched. BMW has been doing research on its hydrogen engine for a very long time.
The American govt had also been supporting the "green" technology. Billions has been burnt, but where is the result?? The greediness of the automobile company that only think of the short term return, in the end, killing themselves. At least, in Japan, the Hybrid is created.
GM & Chrysler has been making the same cars with different name. Plant are closed when sales drop. Now, Renault/Nissan are also making same car, same segment with different names.
Steve Job was kicked out from Apple before, the company he formed. Today, he is sticking to it like glue. Apple is Steve Job, thus Ghosn is Renault/Nissan??
If you remember the day TCM launch the Sentra, the Sunny was still on sale until early 90's (just like Saga and Wira). That explains the decision to create 2 different name for same car albeit different generation.
And the price of Japanese car dont shoot up to 120k overnight. In 1985, the price increase by merely 10k, then the Japanese increase it again due to yen appreciation. A brand new Honda Civic EG in the early 90's price was close to 60K more or less and then later the EK local variant goes up beyond 70K (also thanks to Kah Motor greedy business plan - accesorize everything under the sun), the successor pushed up to 90 and 100K. Same goes to UMWT, and TCM always try to put their product slightly below these 2 as a value for money japanese product.
Ex Proton/UMWT
After reading all of the above, the latest thought that came to me was what is the Japanese / Western CEO these days? More importantly how important is it?
So Akio Toyoda is an ethnic Japanese. Though I have never met him, I highly doubt he is what you call a "typical Japanese" manager. He was educated (post-grad) in USA and spent a large part of his working life there in an American investment bank. I also don't think he believes so much in protecting lifetime employment like his father's generation. What I think he does believe is protecting jobs in general, but there will be no sacred cows.
Judging by the things he has done, he obviously does not subscribe to blindly complying to his older senseis. Else he would not have kicked up such a storm within the old guard of Toyota's board. Surely he must have crossed many senior managers in doing what he did. Had it not for Japanese reverence to the contributions of the Toyoda family he would have been pushed aside.
Carlos Ghosn is an ethnic Lebanese, born in Brazil, grew up in Lebanon and received his degree in France. So I don't think we can we can say he is a typical Westerner. Plus, aren't Lebanese considered as Asians?
We now live in an age of cross-cultural working and management.
Ex-Proton / UMWT,
Yes! Now I remember seeing those "special edition" Sunny 130Y in school days, when the first generation Sentra was launched. Most of them were black and more modern looking trims. But were these not sold in SG?
If you are still reading this, I would like to hear your comments about UMWT, since you we touched quite a bit on Toyota-ness.
If not mistaken, Watanabe Katsuaki also did the same when he took over. Toyota has never fired its full time staff except once and they were regret of doing it. So, is Akio Toyoda going to change this culture? Ghosn maybe a Lebanese but his style of management is very Westernize.
We still found the old Sunny when Sentra was launched in Msia bcos Nissan Japan were making them for the taxi market in Taiwan. I re-called checking at these Sunny at a Tan Chong showroom. I was quoted RM50,000 without accessories. At that time, Proton cars were forcing buyers to accept all the unwanted accessories sold together with their car. The Tan Chong salesman told me that they don't force one to take all the accessories. When I checked the Proton Wira 1.3, it was selling @ RM43,000, inclusive full accessories.
RM50k for the old "Sunny" without any accessories vs RM43,000 for Proton 1.3 with full accessories - I decide to buy the Proton instead :D
TY2LS
(Toyota to Lexus - driving a Toyota now, aiming for a Lexus)
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