TOKYO (AP) — Nissan reported a loss Thursday for its latest fiscal quarter as vehicle sales fell while costs and inventory soared, prompting the Japanese automaker to cut 9,000 jobs.
CEO Makoto Uchida said he was taking a 50% pay cut to take responsibility for the dismal results, while promising a turnaround would come.
Nissan Motor Corp. announced a global workforce reduction of 9,000 people, or about 6% of its more than 133,000 employees, as well as a plan to reduce global production capacity by 20%.
Uchida declined to say which regions would be affected by the cuts or provide details.
For the latest quarter through September, Nissan posted a loss of 9.3 billion yen ($60 million), a reversal from a profit of 190.7 billion yen in the same quarter a year ago.
Quarterly revenue fell from 3.1 trillion yen to 2.9 trillion yen ($19 billion).
Uchida acknowledged that Nissan did not respond quickly and flexibly enough to global changes, including market tastes and rising raw material costs.
“I take this situation very seriously,” he told reporters. “Nissan will restructure its operations to become leaner and more resilient.”
Nissan models did not sell well in the US, one of the most lucrative car markets in the world recently dominated by Ford, Toyota and Tesla.
All aspects of Nissan’s operations and plans will be reviewed, Uchida said.
Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama, reported fiscal first-half sales of 5.98 trillion yen ($39 billion), down 1% from more than 6 trillion yen in the same period last year.
Profits from April to September totaled 19.2 billion yen ($124 million), a sharp decline from the 296.2 billion yen earned in the six months last year.
Nissan cut its sales revenue for the fiscal year through March 2025 to 12.7 trillion yen ($82 billion), from a previous projection of 14 trillion yen ($91 billion).
The company did not provide a net profit forecast due to the uncertainty. It was promised to make a profit forecast as soon as possible. Nissan previously forecast annual profits of 300 billion yen ($1.9 billion).
Nissan now expects to sell 3.4 million cars worldwide in the fiscal year ending March 2025, up from a previously forecast 3.65 million cars. The new number is approximately the same as Nissan sold last fiscal year.
Nissan said it is appointing a chief performance officer in charge of turnaround decision-making who will begin his role next month.
Given the hard results, no dividends are paid out.
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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama
