Nissan to close flagship factory with 3,900 workers to cut costs

Independent

a day ago

Nissan is closing its flagship factory in Oppama, Japan, to cut costs and moving all its production there to another plant in southwestern Japan.
Vehicle production at the Oppama plant in Kanagawa Prefecture south of Tokyo, will end at the end of the 2027 fiscal year, in March 2028, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday in a statement.
After that, all models that had been made or scheduled for production at Oppama will be made at Nissan Motor Kyushu, in Fukuoka Prefecture. The Oppama plant has been a prized symbol for Nissan Motor Corp., which rolled out its Leaf electric car there in 2010, ahead of key rivals.
When the Oppama factory opened in 1961, it was one of Japan's first large-scale auto factories and a symbol of Nissan's - and Japan's - global ambitions. Long referred to as Nissan's "mother factory", it employs 3,900 workers and has produced more than 17.8 million vehicles to date.
The plant's closure was expected, as the maker of the Infiniti luxury models and March subcompact has said repeatedly that it is restructuring its operations to boost its profitability, including by consolidating production sites.
Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama, says the tariff policies of President Donald Trump have hurt its bottom line.
Earlier this year, Nissan said it was slashing about 15% of its global work force, or about 20,000 employees, which would include a 9,000 head count reduction announced late last year, including in China.
The company has been racking up losses, hurt by slipping vehicle sales in China and elsewhere, huge restructuring costs and ballooning inventories.
Earlier this year, Nissan said it's reducing the number of its auto plants to 10 from 17 to 'create a leaner, more resilient business.'
At that time, it didn't say which plants were being closed but confirmed the closures will include factories in Japan. It's also reducing production capacity to 2.5 million units from 3.5 million.
Nissan racked up a loss of 670.9 billion yen ($4.5 billion) for the fiscal year through March, down from a 426.6 billion yen profit recorded in the previous fiscal year.
Its chief executive, Ivan Espinosa, took up the post in April and was set to speak to reporters later Tuesday. He replaced Makoto Uchida, who stepped down to take responsibility for the faltering results.
Additional reporting from Reuters.