Nissan Reports Sharp Profit Decline and Ends Honda Integration Talks
Tokyo (AP) — Nissan Motor Co. experienced a significant drop in profit for the April-December period, reporting just 5.1 billion yen ($33 million), a stark contrast to the 325 billion yen earned in the same period the previous year.
Despite the sharp decline in profit, the company’s sales saw only a slight decrease of less than 1%, amounting to 9.14 trillion yen ($59 billion). Looking ahead, Nissan has forecasted a full-year loss of 80 billion yen ($519 million) for the fiscal year ending in March.
Alongside its financial update, Nissan announced on Thursday that it is discontinuing its discussions with Honda Motor Co. regarding a potential business integration. The negotiations, which began in December, initially aimed at forming a joint holding company. However, the direction of the talks shifted toward making Nissan a subsidiary of Honda—an outcome Nissan’s CEO, Makoto Uchida, deemed unacceptable.
Uchida emphasized that Nissan remains committed to pursuing synergies in electric vehicle development and research through a strategic partnership with Honda, but without a full integration. He added that Nissan is determined to achieve a turnaround independently while keeping its options open for future collaborations.
As part of its restructuring efforts, Nissan has announced plans to streamline operations, including potential factory closures and workforce reductions. The company has already confirmed a reduction of 9,000 jobs and is expected to unveil a more detailed recovery strategy within the next month.
