Posted 2025-10-25 00:00:00 +0000 UTC
According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, the car is weighing options for the future of its two European plants, including sales, as its sales in the European region are declining and the industry is accelerating its move to electrification. Nissan is measuring potential buyers' interest in its UK and Spanish plants, the people said. Since the discussion was private, these people asked not to be named. With Nissan's share of the European market plummeting, splitting up one or two plants is an option. Meanwhile, Nissan has yet to make a decision, but potential buyers include Chinese carmakers, the person said. In March, Nissan's high-end brands made it clear that they would exit the Western European market early next year. The company plans to restructure its global operations, focusing on two major global markets, China and the United States. Nissan's retreat in the European market shows that it is facing cost pressures and a wide range of performance declines. Nissan has been weighing Europe's future since Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman, was arrested last year on financial crimes charges. In the first half of this year, Nissan's profits were almost zero, and Makoto Uchida, the new chief executive, tried to stabilize operations while also mending tensions with its alliance partner Renault. It put him in a tough fight. "At the moment, we have no plans to sell two plants in Europe," said Azusa Momose, a Nissan spokeswoman, according to the report Nissan's market share in Europe was just 2.5% at the end of September as sales fell. Nissan's goal is to focus on its home market, as well as China and the US, sources said. At a time of slowing global auto industry sales and high cost of electric transformation, the collapse of Ghosn disrupted the relationship between Nissan and its largest shareholder, Renault, France. Like other carmakers, European regulators are pressing Nissan to introduce zero emission vehicles that meet new regulations aimed at reducing emissions. Nissan is considering moving from Japanese fuel vehicles to Europe as trade barriers with the European Union are gradually removed, and will focus its production activities in Europe on electric vehicles such as leaf, according to people familiar with the situation. This will reduce Nissan's demand for large European plants, because the process of making electric vehicles is simpler, with fewer parts and components and fewer requirements for production space and equipment. Nissan plans to cut the number of loss making models, including brands such as Datsun and other compact vehicles, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. Nissan is launching a "performance recovery plan," the source said. Under the plan, Nissan may cut some unprofitable models, including some versions of the full-size pickup Titan and diesel versions of other models. Nissan plans to close its underutilized production lines, which is likely to have a serious impact on some brand models and other small car factories. In addition to China, Nissan is considering cutting factory capacity in all markets, the source said. The team, led by Jun Seki, Nissan's incoming senior vice president, is expected to unveil the broad plan this month, although some details are still being finalised. In July this year, Nissan announced that it would cut 12500 jobs globally by 2022, in line with 10% capacity reduction and optimized structural reform. This figure is about one tenth of the total number of employees. Job cuts are the first in the European market. Nissan has announced some job cuts in Europe, including 600 at its Barcelona plant in Spain. The factory has about 3000 employees and an annual production capacity of about 200000 vehicles. In February, Nissan also abandoned plans to produce X-Trail sport utility vehicles at its Sunderland plant in northern England. Nissan said the decline in demand for diesel vehicles in Europe forced it to invest in other technologies and save costs. As Britain's largest car factory, Sunderland will be hard to shut down by Nissan. Last year, Nissan produced 450000 cars at the plant, and 70% of its products were sold to the European Union. Earlier this month, Nissan introduced a new version of the juke crossover for the European market. Renault is also using the same platform to assemble the latest version of Clio subcompact and captur crossover. The shadow of uncertainty also hangs over Nissan's Micra minicar. The car was assembled at Renault's flins factory near Paris. The Renault electric Zoe plant is expected to produce just over 50000 vehicles this year, but well below its initial target of 82000, two people familiar with the matter said. Nissan has no plans to produce other models at the plant in the future. Renault also declined to comment on Nissan's production plans at its flins plant.
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