Nissan Altima

After the Pittsburgh Auto Show was postponed earlier this year, auto enthusiasts have been waiting for the event to finally take place. And at last, after an extended waiting period for the motor show, it opened its doors just last April 26 and will run through the 30th of the month.

Naturally, the mentioned motor show is once again filled with mechanical wonders including a coupe from Japan's third largest car manufacturer. Nissan, the ailing Japanese brand, strut their stuff at the Pittsburgh Auto Show with the centerpiece featuring the Nissan Altima Coupe. The coupe version of Nissan's bet selling model is initially touted as a strong competitor in its class given its high aesthetic value.

Experts in the auto field agree that the introduction of the coupe version of the Nissan Altima came at a good time. For the pasty months, the demand for two-door vehicles has been constantly increasing. This is evidence that car buyers are looking for smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles in the face of increasing prices of gasoline as the summer driving season approaches. The number of coupe models in the market is also growing as the demand increases.

Honda, another Japanese car manufacturer has already announced that they have a redesigned coupe which, as they claim, is ready to take on the coupe market in the United States. The entry of Nissan to the said class will bolster the brand's popularity in the United States auto market. For the past few months, Nissan has been performing well in the market after the woeful year that they have in 2006. The Nissan Altima Coupe is seen as one of the vehicles that will enable Nissan to get back to its winning ways.

The Nissan Altima Coupe, while taken from the Altima Sedan, is made shorter and lower. This comparatively smaller size of the coupe makes it classier than the sedan, making it one of the most youth-oriented vehicles in Nissan's lineup. The coupe is more driver-oriented than the sedan, thanks to features unique to the coupe. Driver comfort and convenience is ensured by supportive front seats and practical gauges and controls. The Nissan Altima parts used in the construction of the coupe complemented the engine that the vehicle is equipped with.

The powerplant hidden under the hood of the Nissan Altima Coupe can be a 3.5-liter V6 or a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine unit. The V6 is rated to produce as much as 270 horsepower while the smaller four-cylinder engine is capable of producing 175 horsepower.

Nissan

In the year, prior to the turn of the millennium, Nissan was a company in a serious financial crisis. Debt had approached $22 billion by 1999. The company had been too complacent, and had taken its prior success, for granted [2].

Did Nissan's decision to outsource their IT Infrastructure to IBM in 1999 make good sense? Nissan was a very troubled auto-manufacturer in the late 1990's. Senior executives from the company were known for their conservative outlook on business, and their 'old boy's network,' mentality. Profits were dropping dramatically, eventually forcing the company into the $22 Billion debt that it then faced. There were no signs indicating a change in the market that would encourage profit growth. The vehicle sales needed invigoration.

Mergers were the flavor of the day in the automotive industry during the late 1990's. Nissan executives approached Daimler Chrysler and Ford to discuss a possible merger, but there was no interest from either of the companies [2]. There was only one alternative left, which was to reinvent themselves and reduce unnecessary overheads. This was the defining point that led to the business process outsourcing decision.

This paper seeks to answer the question "Does the cost of implementing an in-house solution outweigh the benefits or does Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) make more sense?" We reviewed the example of the automotive manufacturer, Nissan, when they decided to outsource their entire Information Technology department to IBM in late 1999, to answer our question.