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Vehicle production at the Oppama plant in Kanagawa Prefecture
south of Tokyo, will end at the end of the 2027 fiscal year, in
March 2028, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday in a statement.
After that, all models that had been made or scheduled for
production at Oppama will be made at Nissan Motor Kyushu, in
Fukuoka Prefecture. The Oppama plant has been a prized symbol
for Nissan Motor Corp., which rolled out its Leaf electric car
there in 2010, ahead of key rivals.
The plant's closure was expected, as the maker of the Infiniti
luxury models and March subcompact has said repeatedly that it
is restructuring its operations to boost its profitability,
including by consolidating production sites.
Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama, says the tariff
policies of President Donald Trump have hurt its bottom line.
Earlier this year, Nissan said it was slashing about 15% of its
global work force, or about 20,000 employees, which would
include a 9,000 head count reduction announced late last year,
including in China.
The company has been racking up losses, hurt by slipping vehicle
sales in China and elsewhere, huge restructuring costs and
ballooning inventories.
Earlier this year, Nissan said it’s reducing the number of its
auto plants to 10 from 17 to “create a leaner, more resilient
business.”
At that time, it didn’t say which plants were being closed but
confirmed the closures will include factories in Japan. It’s
also reducing production capacity to 2.5 million units from 3.5
million.
Nissan racked up a loss of 670.9 billion yen ($4.5 billion) for
the fiscal year through March, down from a 426.6 billion yen
profit recorded in the previous fiscal year.
Its chief executive, Ivan Espinosa, took up the post in April
and was set to speak to reporters later Tuesday. He replaced
Makoto Uchida, who stepped down to take responsibility for the
faltering results.
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