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Episode #1001: Nissan reveals a bold new roadmap, slashing vehicle development times and expanding its EV lineup. Meanwhile, California now boasts more EV chargers than gas nozzles and AI is taking orders at drive-thrus—will customers embrace the speed or miss the human touch?

Show Notes with links:

• Nissan is trying to shake off doubts about its future with a major product showcase in Japan, highlighting a wave of new vehicles and a focus on the U.S. market. 
  • Nissan will release over ten new and updated vehicles in the U.S. and Canada by early 2027.
  • The company plans to cut vehicle development time from 55 months to 37 months for the first model in a family, with later models reduced to just 30 months.
  • The Leaf transitions into a crossover, boasting a new CMF-EV platform, a sleek design, and a more efficient, lower-cost battery.
  • Nissan also teased a rugged EV crossover, designed to stand out in a crowded market. The model will be built in Nissan’s Mississippi plant as part of a $500 million investment.
  • The Sentra and Rogue will both get major updates, with the Rogue gaining a plug-in hybrid option.
  •  “The U.S. is of critical importance for us — we want it to grow,” said Guillaume Cartier, Nissan’s chief performance officer.

• California is accelerating its EV infrastructure, now boasting 48% more EV chargers than gas nozzles, according to a recent announcement from Governor Gavin Newsom’s office. As EV adoption surges, public charging options have nearly doubled in the past year, supporting the state’s ambitious green energy goals.
  • There are over 178K public EV chargers statewide vs. 120,000 gas nozzles, and of that, nearly 17K are Level 3 fast chargers
  • On top of that, the California Energy Commission estimates that there are more than 700,000 Level 2 chargers installed in single-family homes.
  • 26% of vehicles on CA roads in 2023 were plug-in hybrids or full EVs and a $1.4 billion investment in EV infrastructure was recently approved.
  • “The California EV driver experience is getting better by the day,” said CEC Chair David Hochschild, emphasizing continued investments in underserved areas.

• Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut are about to get a high-tech upgrade. Yum! Brands is teaming up with NVIDIA to bring AI voice assistants to 500 drive-thrus. The goal? Faster service, more accurate orders, and better upselling.
  • Studies show AI-assisted orders are 29 seconds faster than the industry average and more than half of Yum! Brands’ 2024 sales came from digital transactions.
  • Other chains are joining in with McDonald’s and Wendy’s rolling out AI ordering.
  • Joe Park, chief digital and technology officer of Yum! Brands said AI could improve the customer experience because “the voice AI is always positive, has the right tone of voice, has the right word selection, [and] can upsell cons

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.

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