Renault Eats $11 Billion Loss From Nissan's 'Catastrophic' Implosion
It's no secret Nissan has spent the better part of the past few years in a sales free-fall, but after months of doom, gloom and rampant speculation, the accountants have finally put a number on just how bad things have gotten: 11 billion. As in 11 billion dollars , which is how much alliance partner Renault is writing off in the first half of 2025 as its Japanese counterpart teeters on the verge of collapse.
If there's any 'good' news here for Renault—and I use that term loosely—it's that this $11 billion effectively only existed on paper. It represented money already invested in Nissan's operations. In a sense, this is Renault's way of acknowledging that it effectively threw that money in the garbage. From now on, Renault will value its Nissan holdings based strictly on the Japanese automaker's share price, Reuters said.
Renault's shares were up slightly on the news; Nissan's were down. The French company currently owns 37.5% of its Japanese alliance partner.
The situation is desperate here in the U.S., which is Nissan's largest single market. Vinay Shahani, who heads up U.S. sales for Nissan, told dealer representatives that early Q2 sales figures were nothing short of an 'absolute catastrophe.'
According to results released Tuesday, the company's second-quarter sales declined 6.5% from a year ago. The core Nissan division was down 6.1%, while sales at luxury subsidiary Infiniti were down 12.7. The Nissan brand's full-year results are closer to flat compared to 2024 thanks to stronger pre-tariff sales in Q1, though that interest has since cooled. Infiniti's full-year sales remain down 9%.
Nissan's new CEO, Ivan Espinosa, has signaled his willingness to do virtually anything necessary to shore up the company's performance and implementing a new strategy dubbed 'Re:Nissan,' which will reduce the company's workforce by another 11,000 consolidate its 17 production plants down to 10—all by the end of 2027.
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