Nissan to cut 9,000 jobs, announces restructuring

TOKYO — Nissan Motor Company lowered its annual profit outlook, announced plans to cut 9,000 jobs and reduce capacity by 20%, as it seeks to cope with deteriorating sales in major markets.
The Japanese carmaker cut its full-year operating income guidance to ¥150 billion (US$975 million) from ¥500 billion for the fiscal period ending March 2025, it said Thursday. That is less than half of what analysts, on average, were projecting. 
Nissan’s woes have stood out among Japanese brands struggling with a downturn in new car sales, and heavy competition from Tesla Incorporated and Chinese electric vehicle (EV) brands such as BYD (Build Your Dreams) Company. The downward revision is a setback for Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Makoto Uchida, who was seeking to improve profitability despite a gradual decline in sales.
The company said it will reduce production capacity by 20%, cut 9,000 jobs globally and sell back 10% worth of shares in Mitsubishi Motors Company, reducing its stake from the current 34%.
Profit for the quarter that ended September was ¥32 billion, falling short of consensus estimates for ¥65 billion, further still from the ¥208 billion it saw during the same period last year.
The Japanese carmaker is around eight months into a three-year turnaround plan meant to reinvigorate the business but was already backtracking earlier this year. In July, Nissan slashed its operating profit outlook for the current year that will end in March 2025 to ¥500 billion, down from its prior forecast of ¥600 billion due to poor sales in China, Japan and North America.
Uchida, who took up his current role in 2019 as the automaker was facing an existential crisis in the wake of former chairman Carlos Ghosn’s departure, is seeking to expand Nissan’s lineup of electric vehicles, forge new partnerships and sell an additional 1 million cars a year by 2027.
But analysts say the company’s new lineup lacks excitement, and hybrid models — a problem when consumer demand for EVs is waning.
Nissan, like many international legacy automakers, is struggling in China, the world’s biggest car market. In June, it said it would cease production at a plant in Changzhou amid slumping sales.
Earlier this year, Nissan lowered its production goal for the current fiscal year by 50,000 units to 3.65 million vehicles but with global sales falling almost 4% to 1.6 million units between April and September, reaching that could be a challenge.