Nissan is feeling the annoyance of its shareholders because of the catastrophic business situation. CEO Makoto Uchida was forced to apologize for the significant losses at a general meeting today.
At the same time, Uchida promised the shareholders to bring the car maker, which was going through difficult times of crisis, back to growth with the help of restructuring and a focus on core markets and technologies. “Nissan will disappear in two years if this continues,” said one shareholder. What the car company needs is strong leadership.
Sustainable growth as a priority
The Renault partner had slipped into the red for the first time in eleven years in the wake of the corona virus pandemic and plans to close its manufacturing plant in Barcelona, among other things. As the group shaken by the scandal surrounding the accused ex-boss Carlos Ghosn recently announced, there was a loss of 671.2 billion yen (5.6 billion euros) as of the balance sheet date on March 31. In the previous year, the group had made a profit of 319.1 billion yen.
Global annual production capacities are to be reduced by 20 percent to 5.4 million cars as part of a “transformation plan” that runs until March 2024. Nissan wants to focus on its core strengths in the future. Sustainable growth and profitability are a priority. The group wants to reduce the models and henceforth concentrate on certain regions, namely Japan, China and the USA. Production in Indonesia is to be relocated to Thailand. In addition, Nissan is withdrawing from South Korea.
With this, Nissan is finally saying goodbye to the strategy of the once celebrated and overthrown ex-boss Ghosn, who aimed at high sales figures. “We will admit our mistakes of the past and correct ourselves to get on the right path,” said CEO Uchida during the recent balance sheet presentation.
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