Nissan shares slump after plan to slash jobs and production

Shares of Nissan slumped: Nissan Motor shares slumped 6 per cent in Tokyo tre on Friday, a day after Japanese automaker said it would cut 9,000 jobs and 20 per cent of its manufacturing capacity as it struggles with sales in China and United States.

stock posted its biggest one-day price drop since August, ending session at 385.2 yen, just above a four-year low.

Japan's third-biggest automaker on Thursday slashed its full-year operating profit forecast by 70 per cent and scrapped its net forecast altoger due to restructuring, which it said would cut costs by 400 billion yen ($2.61 billion) in financial year to March-end.

Like many global automakers, Nissan is struggling in China where BYD and or domestic rivals are winning market share with affordable electric vehicles and petrol-electric hybrids equipped with vanced software.

Nissan is also challenged in US where it lacks a line-up of hybrids just as that vehicle is in strong demand.

CEO Makoto Uchida said on Thursday Nissan h t foreseen hybrids' sudden popularity in US and that demand for revamped versions of core models h t been as strong as hoped.

Nissan's restructuring is latest chapter in a long-running attempt to revitalise its business, having never fully recovered from 2018 ousting of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn and scaling back of its partnership with Renault.

On Friday, Minister of Ecomy, Tre and Industry Yoji Muto declined to comment to reporters when asked his views on potential government support for Nissan.

Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory analyst Seiji Sugiura placed much of blame for Nissan's US hybrid situation on manment that he said was mainly pinning hope on selling new EV and tritionally powered models.

" company released its mid-term plan this spring, but in end re was meaning to that. I think ir understanding of situation is completely wrong," Sugiura said.

Nissan's mid-term plan anunced in March involved 30 new models over next three years, raising global sales by 1 million vehicles, an operating profit margin exceeding 6 per cent by end of fiscal 2027 and total shareholder returns of more than 30 per cent.