Nissan Motor

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. is a global automotive company that offers more than 60 models under the Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun brands. Nissan designs, manufactures and sells the world's bestseller among electric vehicles, the Nissan LEAF. Nissan is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. The company's operations cover six regions: Asia and Oceania, Africa, the Middle East and India, China, Europe, Latin America and North America.

Performance indicators

2021: Profit - 215.5 billion yen

Japanese carmaker Nissan achieved a profit of 215.5 billion yen (about $1.6 billion) at the end of the 2021 fiscal year, which ended on March 31, 2022. The report was published on May 12, 2022 on the company's website.

As Nissan explained, profits were achieved thanks to "strict oversight of costs and improved quality of global sales."

Nissan completed the previous two financial years with losses of 448.7 billion yen (about $3.4 billion) in 2020 and 671.2 billion yen (about $5.2 billion) in 2019.^[1]

History

2024

Lay off 9,000 employees and close 20% of production

On November 7, 2024 Japanese , automaker Nissan announced a massive reorganization designed to improve the financial situation and accelerate the introduction of new car models to the market. The program provides for the reduction of thousands of employees around the world.

Like many automakers, Nissan is struggling in China, where BYD and other local companies are locked in a tough competition, offering affordable electric vehicles and hybrids equipped with advanced technology. In addition, Nissan had difficulties in the United States due to an underdeveloped family of machines with hybrid power plants.

Nissan fires 9,000 employees and closes 20% of production

In this situation, Nissan is forced to lay off about 9 thousand employees on a global scale. That represents roughly 6.7% of the total state, which has 133,580 as of the end of 2024. As part of the reorganization, the company's production capacity worldwide will be reduced by 20%. Nissan also plans to reduce its vehicle development timeline by up to 30 months and deepen its collaboration with partners including Renault and Mitsubishi Motors. At the same time, Nissan sells up to 10% of its stake in Mitsubishi Motors to raise about $445.45 million.

Faced with a dire situation, the company is taking urgent action to improve performance and create a more flexible and sustainable business that can quickly adapt to market change, Nissan said in a statement.

It is also noted that the CEO of the company Makoto Uchida voluntarily refused 50% of his monthly salary. Other Nissan executives also agreed to a pay cut. Uchida emphasizes that the company has suffered not only from external challenges, but also from internal problems, which requires comprehensive organizational changes.^[2]

The closure of the plant in China due to poor sales of the company's cars

At the end of June 2024, it became known that Nissan closed an automobile plant in China due to a drop in sales in the local market. The rapid proliferation of electric vehicles in China has led to a major decline in demand for cars by Japanese manufacturers, which are famous for their gasoline engines.

The closed plant in Changzhou (Jiangsu province) is one of Nissan's eight manufacturing facilities in China. It's a comparatively new plant that began operations in November 2020 under a joint venture between Nissan and state-owned Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor.

Nissan GTR

The plant produced about 130,000 vehicles each year, about 10% of the Japanese automaker's total production in China, according to Nissan. Nissan plans to continue production of SUVs, which were previously assembled at a factory in Changzhou, at another factory, sources said.

Until the onset of 2018, Nissan held a leading position among foreign automakers in China, ahead of Toyota and Honda, with sales in China exceeding those in the American market. However, Nissan has recently experienced serious difficulties in competing with Chinese automakers, which offer cars at more affordable prices, not inferior in design and technical equipment. In 2023, sales of new Nissan vehicles in China fell 16.1% from the previous year. The downward trend continued at the beginning of 2024: sales in January-May fell by 1.0% compared to a year earlier.

Other Japanese automakers have also faced challenges in the Chinese market. In 2023, Mitsubishi Motors announced the cessation of car production in China, and Toyota and Honda were forced to cut jobs and adjust their plans for car production in China.^[3]

Data breach of 50,000 employees after cyber attack

In mid-May 2024, it became known that Nissan's IT infrastructure was subjected to a hacker attack, as a result of which the personal data of more than 50 thousand employees were stolen. In addition, the attackers demanded a ransom from the automaker.

An official notice published on the website of the Maine Attorney General says that the invasion took place in November 2023, but it became known at the end of February 2024. Cybercriminals attacked Nissan's external VPN system, after which they disabled a number of the company's services. The hackers had at their disposal personal information about 53,038 Nissan employees in the United States - presumably former and current, since the company's staff in the region at the time of the hack was about 21 thousand people. Among other things, social security numbers were stolen.

Nissan IT infrastructure under hacker attack

In November 2023, Nissan was the victim of a targeted cyber attack. Upon learning of the invasion, Nissan immediately notified law enforcement agencies and began to take the necessary actions to investigate and eliminate the consequences of the hack, the automaker said in a statement.

It is emphasized that during the attack, not a single Nissan IT system was encrypted. A subsequent investigation found that hackers gained access to some files on local and network resources, which contained mainly business information. Financial information was not present in the stolen documents. The company also said it had no indication that "employee data was among the targets of cybercriminals or that it was misused." Nevertheless, in order to avoid risks, Nissan offered employees whose information was stolen a free credit monitoring service for 24 months.^[4]

2023

Recall of 800 thousand defective cars that have an engine jammed while driving

At the end of February 2023, Nissan announced the recall of more than 800 thousand cars in Canada and the United States. The reason for the service campaign was the problem with the folding ignition key, follows from the data of the American and Canadian transport departments. Read more here.

Data leakage of 18 thousand customers

On January 16, 2023, Nissan announced that cybercriminals were able to steal data on approximately 18 thousand customers in North America. It is alleged that the leak was the fault of a third party that provides software development services to the automaker.

The hack was made on June 21, 2022. The investigation of the incident lasted three months, and on September 26, 2022, Nissan concluded that the cyber attack led to unauthorized access of attackers to user data. The hackers, among other things, had the names and dates of birth of the company's customers, as well as the records of Nissan Motor Acceptance Company (NMAC).

In particular, data embedded in the code during software testing was inadvertently stored for a short time in a public cloud repository. That information did not include Social Security numbers or credit card information, the automaker said in a notice.

Despite the fact that Nissan first learned about the hack in June 2022, the company announced this only six months later. Information security experts from MyCena Security Solutions emphasize that such a long period between detecting a cyber attack and informing users provides attackers with a lot of time to organize fraudulent schemes, for example, using phishing or social engineering methods. Nissan, however, says that there is no evidence of the use of stolen information for criminal purposes. Notification of the incident has been sent to the Maine Attorney General's Office.

We believe that the risk is small, but for precautionary reasons we offer consumers whose data has been stolen one year of free credit monitoring services, Nissan said.[5]

2021: Plan to launch £1bn electric vehicle production in Britain

In July 2021, Nissan Motor Co. announced that it would create a new center for the production of electric vehicles in Britain worth £1 billion ($1.4 billion), which is part of a review of the automaker's strategy for the production of electric vehicles in the UK and support for Prime Minister Boris Johnson after Brexit.

Nissan will spend up to 423 million pounds to produce a new all-electric crossover at the Sunderland plant in the north of England, and Envision AESC, which supplies batteries for Nissan, will invest 450 million pounds in a state-of-the-art powertrain plant.

The Envision deals are shaping the battery supply link between strategic partners Nissan and Renault SA.

2020: 20,000 job cuts

On May 22, 2020, it became known about the reduction of 20 thousand jobs in Nissan. The Japanese auto giant is reducing headcount as one of the measures being taken to cope with the crisis caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 and led to a collapse in car sales.

According to Kyodo News, personnel restructuring will affect enterprises located in Europe, as well as in emerging economies. That's the biggest job cuts at Nissan plants since 1999.

The company plans to cut annual costs by 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) as part of a business reorganization. In addition, the automaker will record one-time write-offs due to restructuring, their size is not called.

Nissan intends to tell in more detail about the anti-crisis plan on May 28, 2020. According to preliminary data, the company will revise its business strategy in the European market, focusing on the cars SUV segment , curtail the development of the budget brand Datsun and close several factories.

According to Nikkei, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic forces the alliance of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors to carry out a significant reorganization until March 2023, during which Nissan may reduce production capacity by 20%

Alliance partners intend to revise production to make more profitable use of capacity. Nissan will close the Barcelona plant and move production to Renault plants in France and elsewhere. Partners are exploring expanding co-production of cars at other plants in Europe, South America and Southeast Asia.

On May 22, 2020, Nissan shares fell 2.5%, and since the beginning their value has decreased by 41%.^[6]

2019: 20-year record loss - 671.22 billion yen

At the end of the financial year, which ended for Nissan at the end of March 2020 calendar, the company gained 9.9 trillion yen ($91.87 billion), which is 15% less than a year ago. The company received an annual net loss of 671.22 billion yen (about $6.2 billion). We are talking about the first monetary losses of the Japanese automaker in 10 years and the largest in 20 years.

Nissan went into a deep loss due to spending 603 billion yen on restructuring and asset impairment. One of the components of the 4-year plan for business transformation was a 20% reduction in production, to 5.4 million cars per year. In addition, the company decided to close factories in Indonesia and Spanish Barcelona. About 2.8 thousand people work at the Barcelona enterprise, its closure can cost the auto giant 1 billion euros.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on Nissan's production, sales and other activities in all regions, the company said.

The general decline in demand against the background of the current situation in the world caused a drop in global car sales in the past year by 6.9%, to 85.73 million. At the same time, Nissan reduced sales by 10.6%, to 4.93 million cars, and the company's share in the global market remained at 5.8%, as predicted, the company said in a press release.

Along with the publication of the financial results, Nissan announced a reduction in the lineup from 69 to 55 cars. This number will include 12 new models that the company plans to release within 18 months (starting from April 2020). Among them are electric cars.

Nissan said the company has enough financial resources to overcome the crisis: 1.5 trillion yen of its own cash and its equivalents, as well as 1.3 trillion yen of credit lines.^[7]

2018: Car park launch for slippers and pillows

In January 2018, Nissan Motor's automatic slippers parking system entered the market. It now takes only one push of a button for self-propelled slippers to "park" at the entrance to a traditional Japanese hotel, ready to meet guests upon arrival. The new system has already begun to be used in hotels.

Each slipper features two tiny wheels, an engine and sensors to help it navigate the wooden lobby. The software is based on Nissan's ProPilot Park car-parking technology, which Nissan used in the latest version of its fully autonomous electric carNissan Leaf in October 2017. High-tech sensors and cameras allow the car to find parking spaces without driver intervention.

A simplified version of the technology was installed in the hotel, famous for its beautiful view of Mount Fuji and located in the resort town of Hakone, which is about 75 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.

Self-propelled slippers will help us raise awareness of potential buyers about automated driving technologies and their application in other areas, said Nissan spokesman Nick Maxfield.

Car parking technology is used not only for slippers running around the hotel. In the guest rooms covered with tatami, pillows and traditional low tables have already appeared, which are also ready to take their place on one command of the owner, as soon as the need for them disappears.

Many of the world's best car brands are developing automatic driving technology. Nissan plans to launch a self-driving car on the streets of the city by 2020. Judging by the slippers and pillows project, the Japanese company has decided to use appropriate developments in areas not related to the auto industry. ^[8]

2016: Sale of 5.63 million vehicles, revenue - 11.72 trillion yen

In fiscal 2016, 5.63 million cars were sold worldwide, which brought the company income of 11.72 trillion yen. Nissan has a global workforce of 247,500.

In 2016, Nissan acquired a 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors, which became the third full member of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the largest automotive association with total annual sales reaching almost 10 million units.

1999

Since March 1999, Nissan, together with the French automotive company Renault, has been part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

Notes