Nissan to slash 12,500 global jobs

NISSAN Motor Company has announced it will slash 12,500 jobs from its global workforce after posting its second-quarter financial results that revealed significant drops in revenue and profit.

 

According to a statement from Nissan Australia, “at this stage, there is no indication that this announcement will impact any jobs in Australia”, with the cuts expected to predominantly impact the production side of the business.

 

Compared to the same April-June period in 2018, Nissan’s operating profit dropped from 109 billion yen ($A1.45b) to 1.6 billion yen ($A21.23m), representing a decrease of 98.5 per cent.

 

The operating profit margin dropped from 4.0 per cent to 0.1 per cent, while revenue fell 12.7 per cent, from 2.7 trillion yen ($A35.8b) to 2.37 trillion yen ($A31.4b).

 

Ordinary profit dropped 77.8 per cent to 35.3 billion yen ($A468m), and net income plummeted 94.5 per cent to 6.4 billion yen ($A84.8m).

 

Nissan said factors including falling global sales, raw material costs, exchange-rate fluctuations and investments were to blame for the poor financial performance.

 

Sales volume decreased 6.0 per cent to 1.23 million units, compared to an overall global market drop of 6.8 per cent.

 

As for the job cuts, about 12,500 employees will be retrenched, with the majority of layoffs expected to be implemented on the production side of the business.

 

Nissan has not said when the layoffs will take place and over how long of a period.

 

In line with the reduction in production staff, Nissan will also reduce its global production capacity by 10 per cent by the end of the 2022 financial year, while also reducing the size of its product line-up by “at least” 10 per cent over the same period.

 

The company has given no indication as to which models will be removed from the Nissan portfolio, with potential victims including the ageing and low-volume 370Z sportscar or pint-sized Mirca hatch.

 

Nissan Australia has said the reductions in production capacities and product line-up will not affect local operations, saying “at this stage there are no implications for the current Australian product line-up”.

 

Through the first half of the year, overall Nissan sales Down under have fallen to the tune of 14.7 per cent, from 29,727 units to 25,350.

 

Every model in its line-up bar the Patrol upper-large SUV has seen a decline in sales, with the Pathfinder large SUV the hardest hit of its volume-selling models, down 40.9 per cent.

 

The best-selling model in Nissan Australia’s line-up remains the X-Trail mid-size SUV, which has accounted for 9692 sales, down 7.9 per cent year-to-date.