Report: Nissan Recovery Plan to Slash Sales Targets, Capacity

Being in dire financial straights as it is, no one expected Nissan’s revised restructuring plan, due out next month, to call for Global Domination In All Fields. Ghosn is ghone. Regardless, after the rapid expansion and sudden contraction seen over the past decade, it’s still a bit jarring to hear that Nissan’s plan reportedly calls for a significant cut to its sales volume and manufacturing capacity.

More so than previously planned, it seems.

We hear this by way of Reuters, whose sources have dropped details on the plan all week long. The latest tidbit is that Nissan will chop 1 million vehicles from its global sales target — a target said to still be in flux — while planning for a significantly smaller global footprint in the coming years.

The two sources who spoke to Reuters say Nissan anticipates annual global sales climbing to 5 million by 2023, the end date for the restructuring plan. In comparison, Nissan sold 5.18 million vehicles last year and 5.65 million in 2019. A year before that, Nissan sold 5.77 million.

As the automaker’s fortunes declined even before the pandemic hit, sales projections had taken a haircut. When piloted by Carlos Ghosn, Nissan was shooting for 8 million annual sales. Later, former CEO Hiroto Saikawa, who left the company late last year, projected a global volume of 6 million for the 2023 target year.

The company’s financial picture has failed to improve, and COVID-19 — with the costs and sales losses incurred by it — only make matters worse. It seems Nissan’s plan to stabilize its operation calls for a streamlined lineup of specific models in key markets, rather than a global presence in all segments.

Notably, the sources claim Nissan’s plan calls for a “large reduction to manufacturing capacity,” pointing to a possible retreat from some markets and the selloff of plants. Steep cuts to Nissan’s workforce were already on the table when the pandemic hit. Last year, the automaker said it expected to cull 12,500 positions globally, with production capacity and the number of models produced expected to fall 10 percent by 2022. A year later, it looks like those figures might see a boost.

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