Nissan has between 12 and 14 months to find an anchor investor if it is to survive, a senior company official told the Financial Times, it reported last week.
The Japanese automaker is suffering from the switch to electric vehicles and the flood of lower cost Chinese EVs on the world market, said Forbes. And in this sense, Nissan is not alone.
Nissan lost $60 million last quarter and cut its profit forecast for the year by 70 percent, from $3.25 billion to $975 million, said Autoblog.
Nissan plans to lay off 9,000 workers and reduce its production lines by 25 percent. To help cut costs, Nissan sold a third of its stake in Mitsubhishi.
Renault, which helped bail out Nissan in the past, has already reduced its stake in Nissan from 46 percent to under 36 percent.
Still the Nissan Rogue is among the top ten sellers in the US and two Nissan vehicles remain popular in Europe: the Nissan Qashqai and Juke, said Forbes. There is also speculation that the company could strike a deal with Honda.
Nissan is not the only car company challenged by the switch to EVs and the competitive EV market.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that European car makers are threatened by tougher emission rules in Europe that cut into profits plus the rise of low cost Chinese imports. Then there is the problem of new tariffs threatened by President Elect Donald Trump.
European carmakers must improve their EV sales next year or face penalties, but sales growth for electric cars is not as high as some expected. Volkswagen said it could be charged $1.6 billion in fines, reported The WSJ.
One of the winners in the market appears to be Hyundai/Kia which has a strong EV and hybrid offering. For November, the company’s hybrid sales jumped 114 percent and EV sales rose 70 percent, said Automotive News.
Sources: Forbes, Autoblog, The Wall Street Journal, Automotive News
Oh no. anyway.