Nissan announces "Power 88" business plan, all-new vehicles every six weeks for six years

Built on four pillars emphasizing "brand and sales power enhancement, growth, sustainable mobility and mobility for all," Power 88 is in effect from now until 2016, at the end of which time Nissan wants eight percent of global market share and eight-percent operating profit (hence the "88"). That would represent a 2.2-percent increase in market share and a 1.9-percent rise in operating profit versus last year's levels.

The strategy for success includes rolling out, "on average, an all-new vehicle every six weeks for six years" to cover 92 percent of global market segments, launching 90 new technologies over those six years and reaching cumulative electric vehicle sales of 1.5 million units between Renault and Nissan.

Sales in BRIC markets are expected to grow significantly, and Nissan plans to build a factory in Brazil to support efforts there. Much more will be made of Infiniti as well, with sales expected to rocket from 150,000 last year to 500,000 in 2016 and a product portfolio of "at least 10 vehicles." That would account for a projected 10 percent of global luxury market sales.

Ghosn has his eye on joining General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen in the massive sales game, apparently because he sees that as the scale necessary to meet future challenges. Whether or not the automaker can manage such scale remains to be seen.