Nissan is Facing Tough Times and Even Tougher Decisions

Nissan has been in trouble for a while now. Dealers have sounded the alarm multiple times over the last few years, noting their troubles selling the brand’s aging vehicle catalog, but now, the situation appears to have reached a point of no return, so to speak. Nissan’s CEO Makoto Uchida recently said the automaker is in an “extremely tough situation,” noting that it would shed thousands of jobs and sell off some assets to stem the tide.

Nissan said it would cut up to 9,000 jobs and reduce its production forecasts as part of the effort. It will also sell part of its stake in Mitsubishi and shuffle some executive roles to focus on performance and growth. Nissan said it expects the moves to save it up to $3 billion.

The automaker won’t nix any of the planned 30 new models it announced under Uchida’s roadmap, but it said it would focus on right-sizing its production numbers to align more closely with sales numbers, reducing excess inventory on dealers’ lots. It currently operates 25 production lines globally and plans to reduce that amount by at least 20 percent.

Nissan will also cut its vehicle development time to 30 months and work more closely with Renault and Mitsubishi, its automotive alliance partners. That said, part of Nissan’s plan involves selling as much as a third of its 34-percent stake in Mitsubishi, netting it around $483 million.

Dealers have blamed Nissan’s aggressive incentive strategies for part of their woes, which added up to almost $181 million in the third quarter of 2024. Volume-based sales targets and incentives have also driven salespeople to offer more and deeper discounts, hurting the automaker’s profitability and tanking Nissan’s resale values on the used market.

[Images: Nissan]

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