Nissan abandons plan for $1.1bn EV battery plant in southern Japan
Nissan Motor said on Friday it would abandon a plan to build a $1.1bn (R20,069,224,230) factory for electric vehicle batteries on Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu, marking the latest change of plans for the troubled carmaker.
Japan's third-biggest carmaker had announced in January the plan for a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in the city of Kitakyushu that was set to create about 500 jobs with an investment of ¥153.3bn (R19,153,837,500).
"Nissan is taking immediate turnaround actions and exploring all options to recover its performance," the company said about the decision, indicating a willingness at Nissan to scale back its domestic market ambitions.
"After careful consideration of the investment efficiency, we have decided to cancel the construction of a new LFP battery plant in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture."
The Japanese government had earmarked a subsidy of up to ¥55.7bn (R6,983,632,580) for the project. The plant was supposed to start supply in July 2028 or later and have an annual production capacity of 5GWh, materials posted on Japan's industry ministry's website showed.
New CEO Ivan Espinosa, who took over from Makoto Uchida last month, is restructuring Nissan's operations. The company is shedding employees, reducing production capacity and closing plants.
Nissan said last month it expects a record net loss of ¥700bn (R12,764,640,000,000) to ¥750bn (R94,042,200,000) for the financial year that ended in March due to impairment charges.
The company is set to provide its outlook for the financial year and update on its recovery actions when it announces full-year financial results on Tuesday.
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