Greeting The Brave New World Is The Car Industry Challenge

Technology and societal changes are inundating the car industry, normally hide-bound by tradition and slave to the cost, complexity and scale of the auto making process.

How individual companies respond is interesting. For example, while now trailing the onslaught of electric vehicles flooding a still largely unreceptive marketplace, despite a 66% overall EV sales increase, the Nissan Leaf still holds the record for the most electric vehicles sold globally – some 325,000 to date.

Nissan astutely took the initiative in 2011 to market the modest EV with an initial EPA range of just 73 miles. In the newest generation 2018 Leaf the EPA estimated range is up 151 miles per charge – very good range for a commuter car.

At the recent LA Auto Show press previews Nissan showed some nice traditional hardware in the way of its newest Maxima sport sedan and posh Murano mid-sized SUV, but beyond that the company hosted a Nissan Futures program featuring thought leaders and entrepreneurs in a range of disciplines to explore the overarching issues of mobility, cities, diversity, technology and the generational shift that is altering the very concept of traditional car ownership.