Nissan considering closing factories in Japan, Mexico, South Africa and Argentina – report

Last week Nissan announced a staggering ¥670.9 billion (A$7.1bn) loss, and to help turn things around the company announced it would close seven factories, leading to fevered speculation as to which plants would get the chop.

According to the Re:Nissan turnaround plan announced last week, seven unnamed factories will be closed by March 2028.

Sources have told Reuters the company is currently considering axing two factories in Japan, closing its plants in South Africa and Argentina, removing the factory in India from its books, and consolidating its manufacturing facilities in Mexico.

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The two Japanese factories living under the shadow of the axe are Oppama and Shonan. Oppama has a capacity of 240,000 cars per year, currently employs around 3900 people, and produces the Note and Leaf.

Shonan is a joint venture commercial vehicle plant, of which Nissan owns half, with an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles. It employs around 1200 people, and produces the NV200 Vanette, Caravan, and AD Wagon.

Should these two factories be swept away in Nissan’s tide of red ink, it will leave the company with three factories in its homeland: Tochigi, and two in Kyushu.

If it does close factories in Japan, it will be the first such move since 2001, when the company closed its Murayama plant under the direction of then-CEO Carlos Ghosn.

According to the news agency, Nissan responded to its report and those by Japanese outlets by clarifying that it had previously committed to consolidating Latin American production of the Navara ute to one of its factories in Mexico – the ute is currently made in both Mexico and Argentina as well as Thailand (for Australia).

The automaker also pointed out that Renault had committed in March this year to buying out Nissan’s stake in their joint venture factory in India. This plant currently makes the Nissan Magnite and X-Trail, as well as the Renault Kwid, Kiger and Triber.

Nissan has confirmed its factory in Sunderland, UK, which produces the Qashqai, Juke and Leaf, is safe from the gallows. It’s likely the company’s plants in the US will be saved too.

Aside from closing factories, Nissan’s latest recovery plan will see it cut 20,000 jobs by March 2028, seek efficiencies from its R&D department, and temporarily pause development of models due after March 2027.

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