This is probably one of those many stories I shouldn’t tell – but I will anyway.
My friend in high school had a very cool Datsun (now Nissan) 260Z that everyone admired.
My friend and I were out one weekend evening, and he misjudged a light and ended up running a red.
A cop unfortunately saw us from about a half mile away and turned on his overhead lights to stop us.
My friend, however, did not want to be stopped (for reasons that would make this story even more inappropriate) – so he stupidly hit the gas and took off, and the cop gave chase.
My friend was not only able to outrun and outmaneuver the cop, but he also lost the cop entirely by turning into the driveway of a residential home behind another car in the same driveway and turning off his lights.
That would not work today, as car lights stay on for a while after cars are shut off – but it worked great in 1980, as the cop sped by us, oblivious to our presence.
And yes, I was scared, and no, I don’t recommend it, but I was very impressed with 260Zs (poor cop didn’t have a chance).
And that’s the point of my story – Nissan made awesome cars back in the day.
The downfall of Nissan is fascinating because it was such a great company and because it involves so much drama.
Michael Girdley recorded an excellent video about it: The rise and fall of Nissan Motors: Global icon to industry underdog.
Nissan was really struggling in the 1990s, and they were saved by a merger with the French car company, Renault.
Renault’s EVP, Carlos Ghosn, took over Nissan’s management and totally revived the company with the 350Z, Altima, Rogue, Murano, and Xterra – and the company thrived in the early 2000s.
But the Japanese managers resented Mr. Ghosn – so they accused him of financial fraud and had him arrested in 2018. He faced prison time until he snuck out of Japan in a huge piano box (an amazing story well worth Googling).
What Did Nissan Do Wrong?
- They kicked out the guy who saved the company.
- They got distracted by a failed electric car (the Leaf).
- They overextended with acquisitions and too many dealerships.
- They relied on subprime financing profits to revive the company in the post-Ghosn era (instead of building better cars), as explained in this short IG post. This backfired horribly because subprime borrowers don’t take care of their cars, resulting in a lot of beat-up Nissans on the streets – sullying the brand.
The big lesson here seems to be sticking to one’s knitting.
I see residential mortgage companies get distracted by selling insurance, commercial loans, escrow services, real estate, CRMs, etc. – and their mortgage divisions suffer as a result.
Similarly, I have seen real estate firms try to build mortgage divisions or focus too much on marketing service agreements – only to see their core businesses suffer.
Struggling firms seem to have a propensity to look for salvation in other businesses – that are often more difficult than their core business.
This is why JVM is and always will sell nothing but residential mortgage services. The business is hard enough without distraction – and we just want to be really good at it.
