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Nissan could report first quarterly loss since March 2009

TOKYO — Nissan may report its first quarterly loss in more than a decade on Thursday because of slumping sales, sources familiar with the company said, adding more pressure on efforts to rebuild the company after Carlos Ghosn's ouster. Deteriorating profits underscore the challenges facing Nissan, which is unwinding many of the expansionist strategies championed by ex-Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Ghosn by slashing jobs, production sites and product offerings to save cash and ensure its survival. In addition to slumping sales, production disruptions caused by China's coronavirus outbreak could also drag profits lower. Three senior officials at Japan's No. 2 automaker told Reuters that they anticipate a poor results announcement on Thursday, with one of them calling the figures "dismal". Two of the officials cautioned that there is the possibility of an operating loss, which would be the first quarterly loss since the period ending in March 2009. Nissan said it could not comment on its financial results ahead of its official announcement. The company is likely to report operating profit of 48.6 billion yen ($442.5 million) for the quarter ending in December, less than half the 103 billion yen profit a year ago, according to SmartEstimate's survey of three analysts, who revised their forecasts in January. However, those forecasts were issued before the release of the December vehicle sales figures on Jan. 30, which show third-quarter sales dropped by 11% from the year earlier period, according to Reuters calculations. That is the biggest quarterly slump of its current sales downturn that began two years ago. That sales decline led one auto equities analyst based in Japan to scrap his forecast and also warn that Nissan could post a loss. "It will be a question of whether there will be a profit or a loss. For the quarter, a loss is a possibility," he said, declining to be named as his forecast had not been updated to reflect his latest view. One of the three Nissan officials said there is a risk the automaker may cut its full-year profit forecast of 150 billion yen, which would be an 11-year low. The company announced that forecast in November after an initial 230 billion yen outlook.

Nissan explains its preparation work with the GTR LM Nismo

There are eight races in the World Endurance Championship schedule, the third one is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Nissan GTR LM Nismo has been designed specifically to compete in that race, and has missed the first two races of the season in order to carry out more testing for that third one, the season objective. Plenty of folks would tell you that racing is the best form of testing, but the Nissan project is doing things so differently that we wouldn't be surprised if they said they were testing on Kilamanjaro because that's just what made more sense. In the video, Ben Bowlby - formerly of DeltaWing - and other team reps talk about how the car was designed, how the choices were made, and failing the first rollover-hoop crash test. If they can keep it running, this year's Le Mans will be even more entertaining than usual.

Nissan will run pilot car-sharing program with two-seat concept EVs

Nissan is using a little car to test out possible solutions to a rather big problem. The Japanese automaker will start a car-sharing program this month using its New Mobility Concept two-seat electric vehicles, which is based on the Renault Twizy platform. The cars will be the foundation of a car-sharing network called the Ultra-Compact Mobility Certification System that will take place in Yokohama's Sakonyama Danchi District. Working with housing agency Urban Renaissance, Nissan says the New Mobility Concept vehicles are part of a "method for revitalizing urban and suburban areas." Indeed, instead of the cars being used for government agencies and utility programs, they'll be used by the general public to get around. The program kicks off this month and will run for one year. Other Nissan NMC vehicles were recently put into rental service in the town of Shikano, in the east of Tottori Prefecture, for tourism purposes, at a cost of about $10 an hour plus $12 for a training license. Nissan has been running various mobility programs using the car for the better part of two years. To get an idea how small the vehicles are, their length is about a foot shorter than a Smart ForTwo. We've got Nissan's press release below. Related Video: Nissan to Test Ultra-Compact EV in Yokohama Car Sharing Project - Yokohama's Sakonyama District will start a car-sharing trial run of the Ultra Compact Mobility Certification System using the Nissan New Mobility Concept two-passenger electric vehicle (EV) - YOKOHAMA, Japan (March 23, 2015)-Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. will conduct a local trial run of the Ultra-Compact Mobility Certification System, a car-sharing network for residents of the Sakonyama Danchi District in Yokohama City's Asahi Ward. Nissan will be collaborating with Urban Renaissance (UR), a semipublic housing agency associated with Kanagawa Prefecture's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's (MLIT) Kanto District Transport Bureau, to study the possibilities of using ultra-compact EVs as a method for revitalizing urban and suburban areas. This local test of the car-sharing network will be implemented from late March 2015 until the end of March 2016. The trial will assess the potential of ultra-compact electric vehicles as a catalyst in revitalizing large-scale, urban and suburban commuting methods, and will gauge the value of ultra-compact EVs as short-range modes of transport that can complement public transportation.