Nissan will sharply reduce the output of its 2 US and 3 Mexican factories in order to control oversupply to dealers, and improve profitability.
The Nikkei via Reuters is reporting Nissan will reduce output at its North American factories by 20% for the rest of the year. Line workers will have to stay home one or two days per week, although there won’t be any firings. No production lines will be halted.
Nissan has been pursuing an aggressive growth strategy in the US in the quest to hold down a 10% market share, and since 2010 it has doubled sales in North America to 1.6 million cars per year. It has done so with incentives and discounts, and high fleet sales which have hurt profits and resale values.
The company said at the beginning of the month it would shift its US strategy to one of sustained profit rather than growth.
Sales of Nissan vehicles in the US have dropped dramatically this year.
