Nissan will cut almost 20,000 jobs and shutter seven factories as part of a monumental cost-saving exercise, after confirming huge losses in its full-year fiscal results.
The Japanese manufacturer on Tuesday announced a record net loss of 750 billion yen – around £3.8billion – for the 2024-25 financial year and held off releasing estimates for the next 12 month as it detailed a raft of measures to stave off its financial woes.
But the key question for many in Britain – particularly those employed by the firm or in jobs related to it – is what does it mean for the future of Nissan’s Sunderland plant and its 6,000-strong workforce in the North East?
The Yokohama-based company has endured a tough period – the group last year described itself as being ‘on the brink of collapse’ with just ‘12 months to survive’.
It now plans to lay off 15 per cent of its workforce as part of a major restructuring drive. This will see an additional 11,000 job losses on top of those announced in November after raising the alarm following a crash in sales in its two biggest markets, America and China.
Projecting a tough 2025, with the challenge of ‘intense competition, forex and inflationary pressures’, Nissan today unveiled collective measures estimated to save the business 500 billion yen (£2.6billion).
Japanese car giant Nissan posted a net loss in the financial year 2024-25 of £3.8billion. It will now embark on a massive cost-saving strategy to attempt to get lift itself out of the red
Nissan’s cost savings measures
The ‘Re:Nissan Plan’ announced Tuesday sets a number of stringent cost-saving measures to pull the car maker out of the red.
It ‘aims for positive operating profitability and free cash flow in the automotive business by FY 2026’ and focuses on job cuts, plant closures and production restructuring.
The headline announcement is that it will reduce its workforce by 20,000 employees between 2024 and 2027. This is inclusive of the previously announced 9,000 job losses.
Cuts will cover roles across manufacturing, R&D, sales and administration.
Nissan currently employs 133,580 people globally. Around 6,000 of them are at its Sunderland plant, where it builds the Qashqai and Juke.
Nissan plans to lay off 15% of its global workforce as part of its major restructuring drive confirmed this morning
A whopping 20,000 job losses worldwide is more than double the number it announced in November. Cuts will cover roles across manufacturing, R&D, sales and administration
Nissan says it will reduce the number of vehicle production plants it has globally by seven, slashing its manufacturing footprint from 17 plants to just 10 by 2027.
Currently, it is not yet clear which plants will be affected.
It will also ‘streamline’ its powertrain plants – this includes axing its proposed battery gigafactory in Kyushu, Japan’s most southwestern island.
All post-2026 new product development has been paused indefinitely, with 3,000 staff overseeing these projects moved to focus on unspecified ‘cost reduction initiatives’, thought to involve revamping Nissan’s supply chain.
But this does not include the three recently-unveiled EVs due to be produced in Sunderland – all of which are due to arrive before the end of next year.
Additionally, Nissan has put in a long-term schedule to simplify its range, reducing the number of different vehicle ‘platforms’ (the architecture on which different models are based) from 13 to just seven by 2035.
The company says it will slash the number of its vehicle production plants around the globe by seven, leaving it with 10 factories in total
Nissan currently employs 133,580 people globally, around 6,000 of them in Sunderland (pictured)
As well as ‘more market-focused and brand-oriented’ product strategy, Nissan will centre its new lineup ‘around signature Nissan models that deliver strong nameplates’.
Nissan’s recent unveil of three new EVs confirms this approach – similar to Renault, Ford and Fiat who’ve both brought out new models inspired by old nameplates as part of their EV-only strategies.
The company’s new chief executive, Ivan Espinosa, who took over the helm only last month, said the full-year results were a ‘wake-up call’.
‘The reality is very clear. Our variable costs are rising. Our fixed costs are higher than our current revenue can support,’ he told a press conference.
In an official statement, he added: ‘We must prioritise self-improvement with greater urgency and speed, aiming for profitability that relies less on volume.
‘As new management, we are taking a prudent approach to reassess our targets and actively seek every possible opportunity to implement and ensure a robust recovery.’
Just a month in the job, Nissan’s new president and CEO, Ivan Espinosa (pictured), said today: ‘We must prioritise self-improvement with greater urgency and speed, aiming for profitability that relies less on volume’
Nissan’s Sunderland plant is the largest car production site in the UK in terms of output – and has built over 11 million vehicles since the 1980s
What’s the future for Nissan production in UK? Will Sunderland be saved?
There is still no word as to whether Sunderland, the heart of Nissan manufacturing in Britain, will be closed and see job losses or not.
This is Money contacted Nissan UK to ask whether the 800-acre site, which employs around 6,000 people and has produced over 11 million cars, will be impacted but spokespeople declined to comment.
Sunderland employees have assembled models such as the Bluebird, Primera, Micra and Almera, and now produce the Qashqai and Juke models.
Last year, 282,124 vehicles – including Jukes, Leaf EVs and Qashqais – were built there. This output represented more than one in three (36.2 per cent) passenger cars made in UK factories in 2024.
However, production was down some 13.2 per cent on the year previous.
It was confirmed in February that a late shift on one of the factory’s assembly lines would be closed, but no jobs were lost after some 400 affected workers were moved other production lines to ‘maximise efficiency’.
Alan Johnson, senior vice president for manufacturing for Nissan’s Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania operation, last month raised doubts about Sunderland’s future, stating that the UK was ‘not a competitive place’ to build cars as he called for increased Government support.
He told MPs that Sunderland ‘pays more for its electricity than any other Nissan plant in the world’ – after disclosing that it was cutting back evening shifts in order to save money.
Nissan’s senior vice president for manufacturing last month told MPs that Sunderland ‘pays more for its electricity than any other Nissan plant in the world’
A trio of new electric cars has been unveiled by the under-pressure car maker, starting with the all-new Micra EV (right), a third generation Leaf (centre) and battery-powered Juke (left). All are due before the end of 2026, meaning they should not be impacted by the product pause
Earlier this week, Nissan’s battery partner – Envision AESC – received a £1billion of investment for its new gigafactory in the North East city.
This second battery factory in the region – and set to become the UK’s largest car battery production site – is aimed at supplying cells for EVs produced at the Sunderland car plant.
The deal comprises £680million of funding from a group of banks (including BBVA, HSBC, the SMBC Group, Société Générale and Standard Chartered), guaranteed by two UK government bodies, the National Wealth Fund and UK Export Finance. The remaining £320million comes from private financiers and Envision itself.
It will provide the most expensive EV component to power the all-new Leaf, which was unveiled in March.
Nissan also confirmed it will revive the iconic Micra name with a battery power supermini later this year, and an all-electric Juke – all of which are due to be built in Sunderland.
The Qashqai – one of Britain’s best-selling cars and a model largely credited with pioneering the SUV trend – will also be upgraded at the Sunderland plant, Nissan said.
