Nissan Motor Posts More Than $4.5 Billion Loss, to Cut 20,000 Jobs

Wall Street Journal

13-05-2025

Nissan Motor 7201 3.00%increase; green up pointing triangle reported a quarterly loss of more than $4.5 billion and said it will slash 20,000 jobs—more than doubling its previously announced plan—as part of cost-cutting efforts to turn around weak sales.
The Japanese carmaker said Tuesday that it booked a net loss of 676.0 billion yen, equivalent to $4.55 billion, for the three months ended March, compared with a net profit of ¥101.3 billion in the year-earlier period.
Nissan recorded restructuring expenses and wrote down the value of production assets in North America, Latin America, Europe and Japan. The company said it will cut 20,000 jobs over the four years through March 2028.
Fourth-quarter revenue fell 0.7% from a year earlier to ¥3.490 trillion as sales dropped, dragged by declines in China, Japan and Europe.
For the fiscal year that began in April, it projected a 0.1% decline in revenue to ¥12.500 trillion, expecting global sales to drop 2.9% to 3.25 million units.
Nissan didn't provide profit forecasts, citing uncertainty over the business environment due to U.S. tariff policy. The U.S. started imposing a 25% tariff on finished foreign-made cars in early April.
The Japanese automaker is in the midst of turnaround efforts to address falling sales.
In November, Nissan unveiled a restructuring plan that included cutting 9,000 jobs and reducing its global production capacity by one-fifth.
Like other carmakers, its business in China has been hurt by cutthroat price competition and consumers' shift away from conventional gas-powered vehicles.
Chief Executive Ivan Espinosa said in March that the company was reinforcing its lineup in the U.S. and had high hopes for a new electric sedan in China, jointly developed with partner Dongfeng Motor.
Espinosa replaced Makoto Uchida as the company's chief in April, just weeks after Nissan scrapped a proposed merger with rival Honda Motor.
The stock has lost about one-quarter of its value this year due to slumping sales and concerns about U.S. tariffs.
Write to Kosaku Narioka at [e-mail]