Nissan is on a cost-cutting rampage, and the latest to fall are its studios. Design centers in southern California and São Paulo, Brazil are to be shuttered as part of the company’s
“Re:Nissan” restructuring plan that hopes to bring the carmaker back into the black by 2026. It’s a shocking move, particularly for Nissan Design America, which has been a presence in the San Diego, California area since 1979.
Located in La Jolla, NDA was established so that Nissan’s designers could better understand the US market and American tastes. It is the birthplace of cars like the original D21 Pathfinder and Hardbody, Pulsar NX, Xterra, 350Z, NX-21 concept, and more. It’s a full-fledged studio that sculpts 1:1 scale models and decides materials and color for Nissan and Infiniti vehicles.
Nissan’s Brazilian design center was established in 2014 near the Nissan Brazil headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. In 2019, it was moved to a standalone studio in São Paulo and renamed to Nissan Design Latin America. Nicknamed The Box, it was responsible for the Kicks (in collaboration with NDA), the Extrem concept, and Versa Sportech.
According to Reuters, Nissan’s design teams will be centered around five locations: Tokyo and Atsugi in Japan, Shanghai, London, and a smaller “think tank” facility called Studio Six in Los Angeles. As part of the Re:Nissan plan, by 2027 Nissan hopes to reduce head count by 20,000 and the slash the number of factories from 17 to 10.
This and the cancellation of Nismo Fest, Nissan is really trying to save costs. Wonder what they’re plan is for increasing earnings.
Sad to hear this…We want the Nissan that we grew up with, to be back soon..
Now if Honda would get rid of their worthless California design studio, maybe they could get back to building cool cars again.
As for Nissan, what has their American studio done lately that appeals to us. Absolutely nothing. They have the most boring line of cars of any “import” brand. And they wonder why they are not selling cars.
Sheesh.
Sand and ironic that they’re closing the studio that designed the Hardbody rather than the one responsible for the 350Z’s door handles.
Gotta agree with Blitzpig. I don’t want American influence. I want Japanese aesthetics on my JDM car.