Like many automakers these days, Ford rival Nissan has faced its fair share of struggles in recent months, many of them related to slow sales and plummeting profits. For some time, it looked like Nissan might get a lifeline via a proposed merger with Honda, but those talks fell apart recently after the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement regarding just how that merger was slated to pan out, logistically speaking. Now, Nissan will reportedly shed thousands of jobs across its global operations as a way to implement some deep cost cutting measures.
According to Automotive News, new Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa (who replaced Makoto Uchida when he stepped down following the termination of merger talks) plans to cut 20,000 jobs across the company’s global operations, which includes the roughly 9,000 reductions that were announced previously. Espinosa recently announced that he expects Nissan to post a record net loss in the current fiscal year that ended in March, coming in around ¥700-¥750 billion ($4.7-$5.1 billion USD).
Last November, Nissan announced that it would be laying off 9,000 workers across the globe while slashing production by 20 percent and aiming to reduce costs by $2.6 billion. At that same time, Uchida announced that he would voluntarily forfeit 50 percent of his monthly compensation, too. His replacement, Espinosa, has been with the company since 2003 and has spent most of his time there overseeing product planning in Mexico and Southeast Asia.
In early February, Nissan announced that it would eliminate the second shift at its plants in Smyrna, Tennessee, and Canton, Mississippi that build the Rogue and Altima, and will also reduce output at its engine plant in Decherd, Tennessee, though no shifts will be trimmed at the latter facility. Analysts estimated that this will result in around 63,000 units of decreased production throughout 2025, or roughly 12 percent of Nissan’s total U.S. vehicle output. Additionally, Nissan will reportedly offer buyouts to more than 1,500 of its employees.
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