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Nissan reports $4.13B net income for 2012

The news for Nissan is good when it comes to the company's results for the 2012 financial year that ended on March 31. Even though the numbers were down in many of the world's major markets, increased sales in the US, Brazil and the Middle East, ten new models and a strong fourth quarter allowed Nissan to hit its target for the year and notch record sales of 4.914 million units globally. On net revenue of $116 billion, Nissan posted net income of $4.13 billion and an operating profit of $6.31 billion.
There are upward-looking projections for this year, Nissan forecasting a 7.8-percent jump in sales to 5.3 million units, with $117.89 billion in net revenue and $4.42 billion in net income. That net revenue number probably won't actually match what's reported next year, though, because Nissan is changing its accounting method and won't include revenue and operating profit results from its joint venture with China's Dongfeng. Net income doesn't change under the new method, but the adjusted net revenue forecast is $109.16 billion.
There's a press release and two videos below with more details for those of you who go gaga for annual reports.

Nissan not shuttering Leaf EV battery plants, at least not yet

The big news on the electric vehicle front today is that Nissan is considering slowing down EV battery production in the US and UK and source all of Nissan's big packs come from Japan. Nissan may also buy some batteries from the Korean company LG Chem. This is apparently causing dissent within Nissan, but it follows what Alliance partner Renault is doing in the hunt for 180-mile EVs. This change – officially denied by Nissan – raises a lot of questions here, since Nissan made a huge deal about building the Leaf pack in Tennessee a few years ago. In fact, the car's big price drop was due, in part, to localizing battery production. If the company is really going to give up on building the packs where it makes the cars, then does Nissan not see itself as being capable of producing an energy-dense battery cheap enough to compete with Tesla and its Gigafactory and GM (which, of course, has long worked with LG Chem on batteries)? Whatever Nissan decides, it needs to be ready to compete in a market that offers a $35,000, 200-mile car by 2017. "We have not taken any decision whatsoever to modify battery sourcing allocation." – Renault-Nissan's Rachel Konrad Nissan would not comment directly on the reported change, but Rachel Konrad, the Alliance's global director of communications and marketing told AutoblogGreen, "The Renault-Nissan Alliance remains 100 percent committed to its industry-leading EV program. This global commitment continues for the foreseeable future, and we have not taken any decision whatsoever to modify battery sourcing allocation. Nissan has no plans to impair its battery investments. Beyond that,we will not comment on speculation or anonymous sources, and as a matter of policy the Alliance does not confirm or deny procurement reviews." There's a point-of-view where it doesn't matter where the batteries come from if the resulting EV is competitive, price-wise. Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, after all, said during a recent Twizy test drive that the battery is a means, and the objective is the car. In the end, Nissan is saying it has no near-term or medium-term plan to shutter plants in US or UK and CEO Carlos Ghosn says, "What's important to us is that electric car performance fully meets customer expectations." Whatever's going on, Ghosn has seen three top executives leave the Renault-Nissan family recently.

As of today, Nissan has sold 50,000 Leafs in the US, 115,000 globally

Watch out, America, there are 50,000 Nissan Leaf electric vehicles prowling your streets. That's the official word from Nissan, which says it has just delivered the 50,000th Leaf – a black SL model – to Todd and Lisa Bolt in Dallas, Texas. Todd is a pastor at the Gateway Church in Southlake, where there almost two dozen Leaf drivers who call themselves the "Blessed LEAFs Club." We're not making that up. Divinely inspired or not, Todd said in a statement that the EV completely meets the family's needs and that, "I don't know why we'd buy another gas car." Last September, Nissan announced it had sold 35,000 Leaf EVs in the US so far, and the 25,000 mark came in May last year. Globally, "nearly 115,000" Leafs have been sold, which makes Nissan's workhorse the most popular EV by a long shot. To celebrate the occasion, Nissan has put together an infographic (click to enlarge) showing the cumulative effects of all those electric vehicles on the roads. While they're only estimates based on taking the actual data from the CarWings connected vehicles (which make up 55 percent of the total fleet) and extrapolating, the numbers are still impressive. Around 906,000,000 miles driven, which means 241,000 metric tons of CO2 saved from going into the air. 50,000 Leaf sales is a big deal, sure, but we're much more keen on those cleaner air figures. Read more below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. NISSAN DELIVERS 50,000TH ALL-ELECTRIC LEAF IN U.S. TO TEXAS FAMILY DALLAS (May 23, 2014) -- Nissan, the global leader in electric vehicle (EV) sales, achieved another milestone this month as Dallas residents Todd and Lisa Bolt made Nissan LEAF the first all-electric model to hit 50,000 sales in the U.S. The Bolt family took delivery of their black LEAF SL earlier this month at AutoNation Nissan of Lewisville. Thanks to enthusiastic owner advocates, robust public charging infrastructure and the launch of a successful free charging promotion, Dallas – and the state of Texas – have become hot growth markets for LEAF. So far in 2014, LEAF sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have grown by about 50 percent over the previous year, with that growth set to accelerate faster thanks in part to the introduction of a new state tax rebate of up to $2,500 on the purchase or lease of a new Nissan LEAF.