Nissan Motor, with models like its luxury brand Infiniti, isn't doing the brand any good because it had been undermining profits due to the aggressive deals getting done to sell the units.
Many describe the unit coming across as dated as the automaker's new model lacks the technology that even lesser-known brands have.
This lack of profits is the situation Nissan has even after a year since former Chairman Carlos Ghosn got arrested because of suspicion of misusing company assets and underreporting his earnings.
In July, the company's announcement of its first-quarter operating profits was down 99% compared to 2018.
The company also announced cutting its global workforce by 10%.
Totally wreaking havoc is the September resignation of CEO Hiroto Saikawa for improperly receiving an inflated bonus.
Taking over the company in 2020 is new CEO Makoto Uchida who is the head of the company's Chinese business.
Nissan's new CEO has to rediscover the carmaker's lost ability to innovate so it can ride along with the automotive industry steering towards autonomous and electric vehicles.
Out of the three Nissan bestsellers in the US, only the Altima got updated last year.
The other two Nissan models: Rogue and Sentra, haven't changed in more than five years.
Analysts say that Nissan's focus on volume rather than on innovation led to the underspending on research and development.
Specifics like replacing dashboard dials and buttons with touch-screen displays make all the difference to consumers to which Nissan seemed to be a little indifferent in doing.
Even before the Ghosn event, the brand had been tainted already with the 2016 scandal involving Mitsubishi Motors wherein the company admitted manipulating fuel-efficiency tests on several models it made for Nissan.
In 2018, 150,000 vehicles had to be recalled in Japan after it was discovered that an unqualified staff is doing the inspections before the units got sent to dealerships.
Daron Gifford, head of automotive consulting at Plante Moran in Michigan said the many key people who left, seen as former CEO Ghosn loyalists, isn't a good sign.
With key people leaving, Nissan is lagging in aspects it was formerly leading in due to lack of consistency and continuity of vision.
Case in point is in the area of electric vehicles in which Nissan's 2010 Leaf model was already in mass-market, way ahead of its competitors.
Still, it hand' t been enough to put the company in a good position these days when governments are now regulating shifting away from fossil fuel cars.
However, Kohei Takahashi, an analyst from UBS Securities said that he rates Nissan as a "buy" stock because of its SUVs: the Rogue in North America and Qashqai in Europe and China are not only well-received but are going to get full model changes in 2020.
