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Nissan posts $6.2 billion annual loss and unveils plan to cut costs

TOKYO — Nissan outlined a new plan on Thursday to become a smaller, more cost-efficient carmaker after the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated a slide in profitability that culminated in its first annual loss in 11 years. Under a new four-year plan, the Japanese manufacturer will slash its production capacity and model range by about a fifth to help cut 300 billion yen from fixed costs. It will shut plants in Spain and Indonesia, leave the South Korean market and pull its Datsun brand from Russia as part of a strategy unveiled on Wednesday to share production globally with its partners Renault and Mitsubishi. "I will make every effort to return Nissan to a growth path," Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said, adding that the company had learned from its past mistakes of chasing global market share at all costs. "We must admit failures and take corrective actions," he said, adding that starting with top-level managers, the company had to break its inward-looking culture which in the past has stymied efforts to deepen cooperation with France's Renault. Uchida said improving the company's cash flow was its biggest challenge. He reiterated that Nissan's cash liquidity was good even though it had negative free cash flow of 641 billion yen in the year ended in March. Nissan declined to give any forecasts for its current financial year which started in April due to the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic. It also declined to give details on how many jobs it was cutting. In what is Nissan's second recovery plan in less than a year, Uchida pledged a return to profitability with a core operating profit margin above 5% and a sustainable global market share of 6%. Nissan posted an annual operating loss of 40.5 billion yen for the year to March 31, its worst performance since 2008/09. Its operating profit margin was -0.4%. The automaker said on Thursday that it sold 4.9 million vehicles last year, up from an earlier estimate of 4.8 million. That was still the second decline in a row and a fall of 11% from the previous period but meant Nissan clung on to its position as Japan's second biggest carmaker, just ahead of Honda and a long way behind Toyota. Pandemic pressure Even before the spread of the novel coronavirus, Nissan's slumping profits had forced it to row back on an aggressive expansion plan pursued by ousted leader Carlos Ghosn. The pandemic has only piled on the urgency to downsize.

Renault-Nissan alliance to start autonomous EV testing

The Renault-Nissan alliance is joining the self-driving electric-vehicle party. The French-Japanese automaking collaboration, which has been selling electric vehicles to the masses since introducing the Nissan Leaf in 2010, said Monday that it will work with transportation-technology consultant Transdev on developing a fleet of self-driving EVs for testing purposes. The model of choice, though, won't be the Leaf, but instead will be the Renault Zoe. Details aren't abundant, but the group does say it will perform the field testing in the Paris area. Transdev's pedigree includes operating what it says is the world's first commercial driverless service at France's EDF campus. The company, which is majority-owned by Caisse des Depots, is no small potatoes, generating about $7 billion in revenue in 2015. Take a look at the alliance's statement here. The alliance has already been working with Microsoft on driving-technology advancements and has teamed up with Japan-based DeNA to hatch a driverless-vehicle initiative for commercial services. And in January, Nissan said its ProPilot features, which include increased self-driving capabilities, would be added to its Leaf EV "in the near future." Of course, other automakers have already jumped into the self-driving EV game. California-based EV maker Tesla has long been pushing its vehicle technology toward autonomy, and General Motors said in December that it would start field testing driverless Chevrolet Bolt EVs sometime this year. In the meantime, the Alliance is gearing up a changeover in leadership, as Carlos Ghosn said last week that he was stepping down as Nissan's CEO on April 1. Ghosn, long a champion of electric-vehicle technology, will be succeeded by Nissan co-CEO Hiroto Saikawa. Related Video: Featured Gallery Renault Zoe ZE 40 Yttrium Grey View 27 Photos News Source: Renault-Nissan Alliance Green Nissan Renault Autonomous Vehicles Electric alliance zoe

Mercedes to build CLA at Nissan plant in Mexico [w/poll]

Volkswagen may have paved the way for American customers to get used to the idea of German cars produced in Mexico, but it won't be the only one for long. BMW is said to be considering production of the 1 Series, 3 Series and Mini south of the border, Audi is working on its own factory in San Jose Chiapa, and now Mercedes-Benz is reported to be following suit as well. Only instead of building its own plant, Daimler is tipped to use a Nissan factory in Aguascalientes.
According to a report in Manager Magazin recently cited by Automotive News Europe, that's where Mercedes is considering building the GLA, CLA and another A-Class sedan. Just what the point would be of another sedan based on the A-Class in addition to the CLA, we're not sure, but if Benz can produce the larger CLS in addition to the E-Class and S-Class sedans, we suppose there'd be room for an A-Class sedan alongside the CLA as well.
We're still waiting on confirmation and comment from Mercedes on the prospect, but one way or another, the increase in Mexican production of German automobiles seems to be a foregone conclusion.