Nissan's Demise

Over the last forty years I’ve owned a Datsun B210, and from Nissan an Altima, a Quest, and a Versa. The long term injuries that plague me came while I was in the passenger seat of a Sentra. Today there’s a crusty Pathfinder in the driveway that I got in a trade about a year ago. A friend drives it every now and then, just to make sure it’s still going to move if we get a fire evacuation notice.

My favorites are the old things I’ve owned - 1966 Ford Trick, 1968 Dodge Dart, 1968 Ford Galaxy, 1972 Dodge Dart, and a 1973 Nova. I’m sad about the last two, had my life taken a different course they’d both lurk together in a shed somewhere, getting out for Sunday drives.

I don’t have a lot of nostalgia for my Nissans - they were solid vehicles that ran and ran, then I continued to see them around after we parted ways. Other than the Pathfinder, I’ve been foot/bike/transit for the last sixteen years, so I don’t pay a lot of attention. The great big reveal in this piece is near the end - how dramatically investment driven China’s EV push is changing things for all the car makers in export/market driven economies.