Nissan is in dire straits to save itself: the automaker is cutting 9,000 jobs, reducing production capacity, and selling its stake in Mitsubishi Motors. The CEO also cut his salary in half.
Chief executive Makoto Uchida – who took over the job amid Carlos Ghosn's financial crisis – today unveiled a “sweeping” restructuring plan after announcing the company's biggest loss in the latest quarter, Reuters reported.
Uchida “also lowered full-year sales and operating profit guidance and withdrew its previous revenue target,” the report said, adding that it was too soon to give an accurate forecast.
The changes will include shuffling some executives, such as giving Nissan chairman Guillaume Cartier, who oversees Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, and Oceania, a promotion to the newly created chief executive position.
Also, Uchida said he will take a 50% pay cut starting this month to help. (A Google search showed it appears to make about 657 million yen, or about $4.30 million, a year.) Its global headcount of 133,580 employees will see a significant drop of 9,000 employees.
The new change looks set to save the company $3 billion.
“The question is how to do it quickly and adapt to reality,” Uchida said at a news conference. “We cannot deny the fact that our sales plan has been stretched due to rapid changes in the market.”
Uchida is looking to reduce global capacity by 20% to bring its global production capacity to 5 million units. The automaker has 30 new or updated products in the lineup, and while it doesn't plan to cancel them, it will push back launch dates depending on market demand.
Of course, the biggest problem with Nissan is that its EVs are pretty useless: all it has to offer is the Ariya and the Leaf, which aren't hot sellers in the US. Nissan says it will continue to offer bidirectional, vehicle-to-grid technology in newly launched EVs from 2026, joining alliance partner Renault in integrating the technology.
Nissan also sold about a third of its 34% stake in Mitsubishi, freeing up another $482.7 million. Back in the days of Ghosn, Nissan took 34% of the shares of the Mitsubishi company, but even after the sale, Nissan said that it should remain the largest shareholder of Mitsubishi. Its alliance with Renault has invested an estimated $5.2 billion in its EV and battery development plans.
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