Nissan Ships Car Production Abroad

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Again and again, executives at Japanese car companies warned of a “hollowing out” of the Japanese industry if the yen remains as overvalued as it is. The yen remains unimpressed. Now, the executives start hollowing. A day after rumors of a reduction of domestic capacity at Toyota had hit the wires, Nissan is said to trim domestic output capacity by 15 percent. It will happen as early as next month, The Nikkei [sub] says.

According to the report, Nissan will suspend one of two production lines at its key Oppama plant, reducing Nissan’s annual domestic capacity from 1.35 million units to around 1.15 million units. The Oppama plant has an annual capacity of 430,000 units and makes subcompacts including the Leaf.

Nissan has less than a quarter of its global production in Japan. However, some 60 percent of Nissan’s Japanese production is still exported, exposing the company to currency risks. Nissan is working on changing this. Japanese production of the Tiida will stop, the car will be imported to Japan from Thailand. Nissan already imports the March.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Commando Commando on Jun 21, 2012

    The Japanese are sending good paying manufacturing jobs out of the country... I'm loving it!

  • El scotto El scotto on Jun 21, 2012

    This affects me how?

  • Daveainchina Daveainchina on Jun 21, 2012

    Interesting, I wonder if Nissan will export from the USA? That would be VERY interesting.

  • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Jun 21, 2012

    The automakers keep complaining about the value of the yen and threatening changes, but what can the government do about it? Isn't there a quake/tsunami angle that ties the government's hands?

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