GM’s move past Nissan from 5th to 4thplace in the North American Automotive OEM-Supplier Working Relations Index Study was a “a pleasant surprise,” according to John Henke, president of Planning Perspectives Inc., which conducted the survey.
GM improved in five of six purchasing areas. “They’ve been working their bottoms off to do this,” said Henke. “They’ve got to keep this up so they can keep moving,” said Henke. “They’re not going to catch Toyota and Honda, but they can certainly stay on their heels.”
Nissan ranked lower in supplier relations in every one of six purchasing areas over last year. “When we went out and asked suppliers what was going on, they told us Nissan had been getting particularly nasty in asking for price reductions,” said John Henke.
In 2014, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said publicly that Nissan needed to boost profits in North America. “One easy way to do that, at least they thought, is to get price reductions from suppliers,” said Henke.
