Tokyo — Nissan Motor will cut more than 10,000 jobs globally, bringing the number of layoffs, including those previously announced, to about 20,000 or 15% of its workforce, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported on Monday.
Japan’s third-biggest carmaker is striving to make its business leaner and more resilient after weak sales in China and its biggest market the US.
Nissan declined to comment on the report.
It is set to announce on Tuesday results for the business year that ended in March. It warned last month it would probably book a record ¥700bn-¥750bn ($4.74bn-$5.08bn) net loss in that year due to impairment charges.
The carmaker missed out on the growing popularity of hybrid models in the US and failed to capitalise on an early lead in electric vehicles (EVs) there.
It has also suffered in China, the world’s biggest car market, where it plans to launch about 10 new vehicles in the coming years to try to halt a slide in sales.
CEO Ivan Espinosa, who took over from Makoto Uchida as CEO last month, is restructuring Nissan’s operations and has previously said the company was considering extra measures.
Nissan, which had more than 133,000 staff in March last year, announced plans last November to cut 9,000 jobs and reduce global capacity by 20%.
It has also said it would close a plant in Thailand by June and shut two more plants that it has not identified.
On Friday, it said it had decided to give up a plan to build a $1.1bn factory, for which it was set to receive government subsidies, for EV batteries on Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu.
Its weak performance forced it to cut its profit outlook four times for the financial year that just ended.
Reuters
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