Nissan Cuts New Car Development Cycle to 37 Months by Adopting Chinese Automakers' Approach

At a recent event held at its Yokohama headquarters, Nissan revealed that by adopting Chinese automakers’ R&D approaches, it has shortened the development cycle for new models from 50 months to 37 months and reduced the timeline for model updates from 50 months to just 30 months—a 40% acceleration. Kazuyuki Yamaguchi, a senior Nissan executive, stated that the upcoming all-new Skyline took only 26 months from project initiation to completion, a significant reduction compared to the 55 months required for the current model. To enhance efficiency, Nissan has revised its strategy by prioritizing refinement of core features instead of creating multiple design proposals for each new vehicle and repeatedly selecting among them. The company is also integrating models onto shared, family-oriented platforms with common hardpoints to shorten design cycles. Organizationally, Nissan has eliminated the practice of assigning a dedicated project director, product planning manager, and chief engineer for each vehicle. Instead, a single project director now leads the effort, with the chief engineer responsible for delivering the vehicle according to defined targets. On the technology front, Nissan is extensively leveraging AI modeling, digital twins, and virtual reality to conduct testing and validation in virtual environments, thereby reducing the need for physical prototypes. Its advanced autonomous driving systems even enable engineers to run unattended overnight tests. Yamaguchi also noted that Chinese automakers can develop a new vehicle in as little as 18 to 24 months—a pace Nissan currently cannot match. He attributed this partly to cultural differences in work practices: Chinese teams can operate around the clock, a model difficult to replicate in Japan.