Nissan plans to close some factories in Japan

In order to rebuild its business, Nissan Motor has determined the policy of closing some factories in Japan. The specific target factories and whether to close or stop production will be determined in the future. Nissan’s current performance is poor and it will lay off 20,000 employees, equivalent to 15% of the global workforce. Due to sluggish sales, excess capacity has been squeezing costs. Therefore, Nissan will close domestic factories and accelerate the revitalization of operations.

Including subsidiaries, Nissan has 5 factories in Japan. Distributed in three prefectures, including Fukuoka Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture and Tochigi Prefecture, the total production capacity exceeds 1 million vehicles.

According to data from British research company Global Data, the operating rate of Nissan’s Japanese factories in 2024 was 56.7%, which is significantly lower than the 80% operating rate considered to be the break-even point in the automotive industry. Excess production equipment has been squeezing costs.

In November 2024, Nissan announced a global layoff of 9,000 employees and a 20% (1 million vehicles) reduction in production capacity in order to rebuild its business. As performance continues to be sluggish, the number of layoffs will increase by more than 10,000.