Nissan To Slash North American Production By 20 Per Cent

Nissan is cutting production in North America by as much as 20 per cent as sales decline in the U.S.

Nikkei Asian Review reports that the Japanese marque has started making cuts at two of its U.S. assembly plants as well as a further three in Mexico. By summer, Nissan will slow its production lines to decrease output by 10 to 20 per cent annually.

Interestingly, Nissan cutbacks are only temporary and not thought to extend into autumn when the new Altima launches. This means there won’t be any job losses and the production lines won’t be completely halted.

Nissan is changing strategy

Throughout much of the previous decade, Nissan has boosted sales with high incentives and high-volume sales to rental car companies. Where the industry average for incentives was $3600, Nissan’s reportedly averaged at least $4000.

As part of Nissan’s rethinking, it will reduce volume corporate sales and incentives while shifting to a strategy focused primarily on profits.

Sales of new vehicles in the United States fell by 1.8 per cent to 17.55 million units last year. In contrast, global auto sales climbed 2.7 per cent to 96.22 million while China grew by 3 per cent and hit 28.87 million.

Nissan is currently the sixth-largest carmaker by sales in the United States, behind the likes of General Motors, Toyota, and Honda.