Nissan To Close One Of Its Most Historic Factories in Japan
Nissan is preparing to close one of its longest-running factories, marking a painful step for the automaker as it tries to climb out of the challenges plaguing it over the past several years. While the plant was on Nissan’s targeted closure list, it has been in operation since 1961 and employs more than 2,000 workers, making the move feel significant for the company.
Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa said, “Today’s announcement marks a restructure that comes with significant pain. However, I firmly believe that carrying through with these actions is essential to overcoming the current situation and returning to a path of growth.” Espinosa said Nissan wasn’t planning to close or consolidate other Japanese facilities and noted that the automaker is still deciding whether to transfer employees to other parts of the company.
The Oppama plant was the first to build the Nissan Leaf and has a significant economic impact on the community surrounding it, so the closure will cause ripples beyond Nissan’s balance sheet. Nissan will cut a total of around 20,000 jobs globally and plans to reduce its manufacturing footprint from 17 factories to 10. While the company’s partnership with Honda fell through, Nissan may offer some of its excess manufacturing capacity to produce pickups for its Japanese rival, and Nissan will cancel other models, including the NV200 van, to further cut costs.
[Images: Nissan]
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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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I live in Spain and in Europe Nissan everything that offers are crossovers and SUV´s. Not everybody like SUV´s or crossovers or is willing to buy one no matter what. The last Nissan I had was a Maxima. I haven´t even considered Nissan since years because they don´t sell any sedan here in Spain.
"Good cars and trucks from now on" isn't enough, product can't resolve this kind of debt. Every corporate museum of bad decisions should include the good ones lost to the stupidity.