CEO Ivan Espinosa said his company had to “reset the clock” with its major restructuring effort
A Nissan Leaf bodyside passes through the Sunderland plant’s Body Shop(Image: Matt Walker)
Factory closures and job cuts are helping Nissan to stage a turnaround of its challenged performance, its CEO has told reporters.
The Japanese automotive giant has slashed forecasted losses for its 2025 financial year saying it now expects an operating loss of 60billion yen (about £287m) down from its previous outlook of 275billion yen (£1.31bn). Ivan Espinosa said the results – which also include a 44% fall in third quarter operating profits to 17.5billion yen (£83.7m) – showed progress.
The ‘Re:Nissan’ programme has introduced sweeping job cuts of up to 20,000 by 2027, the closure of seven factories globally and redeployment of 3,000 people from work on future models to look at cost cutting ideas. It came amid serious financial challenges to the company, which now hopes to become profitable by the end of its 2026 financial year.
The firm says it has identified more than £593m of cost savings through “thousands of innovative ideas”. It has reported about £383m alone in the first half of this year.
Mr Espinosa told a press conference in Japan that sales remained under pressure and tariffs continued to present issues, but sought to reassure that turnaround efforts were working. He said: “From the beginning, we said that this year was a year of restructuring. And when you do a restructuring unfortunately there are costs that are incurred and impairments that are incurred.
“It’s unfortunate that we have a net loss this year but in a way, it’s expected. This is what we said we’d do. We had to reset the clock of the company and this is what we’re doing with the plan.
“I think it’s remarkable to recognise from the teams the discipline and the dedication that they have put into moving the company from where we were to where we are in the third quarter.”
He added: “We are moving swiftly, with responsibility and taking care of the actions that we have to follow. We are a bit ahead of schedule in terms of the workforce reduction but we’re not sharing the breakdown – it’s about thoughtfulness and responsibility in the way we’re managing these adjustments to the workforce.”
Following failed merger negotiations with Honda, Nissan has rekindled talks with its rival. Mr Espinosa said those discussions were “focussing on projects that bring win-win to both companies” – particularly a focus on how to collaborate in North America where both car makers are facing headwinds from tariffs under President Trump.
Nissan’s Sunderland factory recently started production of the third generation Leaf model, 15 years on from the launch of its first predecessor. The success of the new Leaf could prove pivotal to Nissan which has invested millions in its transition to electric vehicle production at the Wearside plant which employs about 6,000 people.