Major Car Brand To Slash Almost Half Of Production Plants With Plans To Cut Thousands More Jobs Amid Huge Losses

A MAJOR car brand will shut almost half of its factories by 2027, the company confirmed today.

The manufacturer is also cutting thousands of jobs.

Alamy6,000 jobs will be cut at the Nissan Plant, Sunderland[/caption] GettyNissan has lost almost $3bn in the last two financial years[/caption]

Nissan will close almost half of its factories over the next two years, the company announced in a statement this morning.

The announcement said: ” Nissan will consolidate its vehicle production plants from 17 to 10 by fiscal year 2027.”

It added: “Nissan aims to reduce its workforce by a total of 20,000 employees between fiscal years 2024 and 2027.”

The seven factories which will close are currently unknown, but the Nikkei business daily has reported today that some of these will be in Nissan’s home country, Japan.

The company has confirmed that it will cancel plans to build a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery plant in Kyushu.

Nissan also hasn’t said where the 20,000 job cuts will take place, but the company did specify departments which will likely be impacted.

The company said: “This workforce reduction globally covers direct/ indirect roles and contractual roles in manufacturing, SG&A (selling, general and administrative expenses) and R&D (research and development) functions.

“Additionally, Nissan will implement further measures under SG&A, including expanding the scope of shared services and identifying efficiencies in marketing.”

The company also confirmed the cuts will include the 9,000 lay offs it announced in November.

Among those affected in the previously announced cuts are 6,000 job losses at Nissan’s plant in Sunderland.

These new cost-cutting measures arrive under Nissan’s explosive ‘Re:Nissan’ plan, announced this morning.

The plan aims to save an eyewatering 500 billion yen ($3.38bn) in just two years, by creating a ‘leaner, more resilient business’.

The company is seeking to implement these after a disastrous two years for the company’s finances.

This morning, Japan’s third-largest carmaker announced a net loss of 671 billion yen over the last financial year.

Combined with considerable losses of 427 billion yen ($2.88bn) last year, Nissan has had a net loss of almost 1.1 trillion yen ($4.11bn) since March 2023.

The company is looking to produce an incredible turnaround and become profitable again by 2026.

As of March last year, the company had more than 133,000 staff worldwide – meaning a total 15% of its entire workforce is set to be hit.

However, there could be further structural changes to its remaining personnel, as Nissan wants to reduce its workforce’s average cost per hour by 20%.

The company said it would achieve these additional savings “through various initiatives such as rationalizing global R&D facilities and allocating work to competitive locations.”

Nissan president and CEO Ivan Espinosa said: “In the face of challenging FY24 performance and rising variable costs, compounded by an uncertain environment, we must prioritize self-improvement with greater urgency and speed, aiming for profitability that relies less on volume.

“As new management, we are taking a prudent approach to reassess our targets and actively seek every possible opportunity to implement and ensure a robust recovery.

“Re:Nissan is an action-based recovery plan clearly outlines what we need to do now.

“All employees are committed to working together as a team to implement this plan, with the goal of returning to profitability by fiscal year 2026.”

The plan comes as the manufacturer is reported to be facing intense competition and struggles in the car market.

The company is still looking for a new industrial partner since scaling back its alliance with France’s Renault, as well as aborting an attempted merger with Japanese rival Honda back in February.

Its woes have been linked to a collapsing market share in China, where its cars were previously lucrative.

Sales have more than halved there in the past four years.

In addition, Nissan and other Japanese rivals have been slow to develop electric models of their vehicles, causing them to fall behind Chinese counterparts like BYD, Chery, and Geely.

The aforementioned trio have all produced hugely popular electric and hybrid vehicles in recent years.

Nissan’s new boss in China, Stephen Ma, admitted last month: “The Chinese brands were too fast, to be honest.

“Now I think we have reset.”

GettyNissan is moving from having 17 factories worldwide to 10[/caption]