Nissan cuts 9,000 jobs and reduces production capacity by 20 per cent
Operating profit estimate -70%. Profitability plummets. CEO Uchida halves salary and admits: full hybrid boom not expected
3' min read
3' min read
Nissan, Japan's third largest carmaker after Toyota and Honda, announced a cut of 9,000 jobs (6.7% of its 133,580 employees) worldwide, along with a cost reduction of EUR 2.4 billion. It also cut production capacity worldwide by 20 per cent, against a clear deterioration in sales. The group has again revised downwards its revenue and operating profit estimates (-70%) for the fiscal year 2024: 'Faced with the severity of the situation, Nissan is taking urgent measures to recover its performance and create a more responsive and resilient company'. Thus the note from the Yokohama-based company. Nissan then decided to sell up to 10% of its stake in Mitsubishi Motors (part of the alliance with Renault, undergoing governance restructuring) to raise a figure close to 70 billion yen (over 420 million euros).
The mea culpa
.CEO Makoto Uchida admitted that 'such rapid growth in Hevs', i.e. the full-hybrid, had not been expected. "We started to realise this trend towards the end of last fiscal year," the ceo added, adding that some changes to the main models did not go as well as expected.
Now the Japanese manufacturer intends to reduce the vehicle development time to 30 months, deepen collaboration with Renault, Mitsubishi and Honda, and explore further strategic partnerships in the areas of technology and software services.
To facilitate rapid decision-making, Nissan has appointed a chief performance officer, Guillaume Cartier, effective 1 December. Cartier will oversee the Japan-Asean, Amieo (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania) and Americas regions.
The cut
.Nissan's global sales fell 3.8% to 1.59 million vehicles in the first half of the fiscal year (the six months between April and September), mainly due to a sharp 14.3% drop in China. For the full fiscal year 2023, Nissan had sold 3.4 million cars (+1.4%). Sales in the US this year were down almost 3%, to about 449,000 vehicles. Together, China and the US account for almost half of the global market for Nissan. As for Europe in 2024, Nissan saw sales grow by a total of 5% in the first six months but suffered a collapse in September: -20% and 1.6% market share (from 1.9%).
