Nissan Plans Voluntary Buyouts for Some U.S. Employees

by Chris Teague

Published: August 6th, 2024

nissan plans voluntary buyouts for some u s employees

Nissan has seen its sales numbers tumble over the last few years, with its market share, operating profit, and net income falling by deep double-digit percentages since 2019. The Japanese automaker now needs to cut costs to compensate for the fall and will offer voluntary buyout packages to a chunk of its older salaried workforce.

The company confirmed its plans to Automotive News, with a spokesperson saying that it is looking to “optimize business operations and remain competitive in the future.” This action follows a similar buyout Nissan offered in 2019 and 2020, and the automaker has made other cost-cutting moves, such as reducing employee travel budgets and implementing unpaid furlough days. Nissan is offering the buyouts to workers aged 52 or 55 years and up, depending on the department.

Earlier this year, the automaker delayed the release of its Rogue crossover, its top-selling model. Nissan pushed deals on the older model and has climbed to the top spot among full-line automakers for incentive spending.

Though disappointing for the Japanese company, it’s not the only automaker implementing cost-cutting measures in the United States. Last month, Stellantis offered buyouts to thousands of non-union U.S. workers and said that it would pursue involuntary layoffs if it couldn’t convince enough people to take the deal. The combined pressure of shaky demand and increased competition has put many automakers in a tricky spot, and Nissan’s lineup sorely needs more hybrid options to remain relevant.

[Images: Nissan]

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Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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6 of 17 comments

Jeff on Aug 06, 2024
Agree with the comments above. Nissan needs to improve their quality and dump the Jatco CVT. The only Nissan vehicle I would be interested in is the Frontier. How about Nissan and Mitsubishi developing a new compact pickup to compete with the Maverick and Santa Cruz. Nissan at one time was competitive with Toyota but the Renault ownership was the beginning of their steep decline in quality.

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- Lloyd Bonified on Aug 07, 2024
  I'd have no beef with the new Z but I have only even seen one of them.
  
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Lou_BC on Aug 06, 2024
Let me get this straight....I work for a company and engineer and build meh products that most don't want to buy. To save money they pay me to leave. 0_o

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- See 2 previous
- 28-Cars-Later on Aug 07, 2024
  They pay you to leave now instead of later paying unemployment/potential severance and waiving legal liability while also saving salary and benefits costs on this year's budget for a job they either no longer need or (they think) can hire a much cheaper replacement. This is a thing in the US and until 2020 was propelled mostly by skyrocketing healthcare costs in the 55-64yo employee demographic (today its likely that and a host of other factors). The last ten years to Medicare is becoming a death march in the US, no pun intended.
  
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- Lou_BC on Aug 07, 2024
  @28-Cars - They wouldn't do it if it did not save them money. In my town a pulp mill closed and another shut a line down. They offered buyouts to the senior staff. Many took it. Some of them still young enough with a skilled trade and worklife remaining were happy because they can easily find work.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Aug 07, 2024
  Your situation sounds a bit different than the corporate stuff I have witnessed, you may have had other mitigating factors there such as a union or the fact your pulp mill completely shut down as opposed to "buying out" employees as a stopgap before layoffs. From what I have seen, it was always about lowering healthcare costs and if those bought out employees were replaced at all they wouldn't be hiring that older demographic (which is technically ageism and illegal but ageism is at the bottom of the dim's scale of faux oppression and thus not enforced). It also just occurred to me the "buyouts" may have had something to do with pensions or other retirement obligations which are not expunged in a layoff.
  
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