There is no doubt, the Japanese automaker Nissan has been struggling to make adequate profits from the last few years. And the disaster brought by the former chairman Carlos Ghosn and the outbreak of COVID-19 added insult to injury. According to Reuters, the marque is looking to cut annual sales target by 1 million vehicles. The company plans to announce a restructuring plan next month.
With this plan in effect, Nissan will make arrangements to sell five million cars every year, compared to the six million target set by the ex-CEO Hiroto Saikawa. Ghosn was even more optimistic and wanted to bump the company’s sale to eight million a year.
With Nissan looking to sell just five million cars in the next four years, we can see the company’s size shrinking with major job cuts down the line. The company already announced to lay off 10% of its workforce. Reuters says Nissan may shut down three or four of its plants once it moves to reduce the number of its workers.
The coronavirus will certainly impact the sales of Nissan, so a five million mark isn’t realistic at this point. A person close to this matter said that the company never sold over five million vehicles. Yes, they have been very optimistic about sales targets but that was just wishful thinking.
If we talk about the profits, Nissan reported its greatest quarterly loss in the last 10 years for the Oct-Dec19. The company now reportedly demands a $4.6-billion credit line to mitigate the situation.
While this looks bleak, Nissan still offers some of the world’s best passenger cars. This year we are hoping to see the next-generation Qashqai / Rogue Sport, updated X-Trail / Rogue, and a fresh Frontier pickup truck. A new Z sports car is also expected by the end of this year.
Source and Images: Motor1