Nissan forecasts US$6.3 billion net loss for fiscal 2020

In a story similar to alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan has projected that it will suffer a second straight year in the red, expecting net loss for fiscal 2020 to be at the same level it was this year. In May, the company reported a net loss of 671 billion yen (RM27.1 billion) for 2019, its worst in 20 years, and is forecasting a similar net loss for the coming year at 670 billion yen.

Japan’s third-largest automaker says operating losses are however expected to swell more than tenfold, from 40 billion yen (RM1.61 billion) for fiscal 2019 to 470 billion yen (RM19 billion) for 2020 as its performance continues to be impacted by the effects of Covid-19 and the challenging business climate the pandemic has brought about.

The outlook for 2020 was revealed earlier today along with the company’s announcement of its first-quarter results, in which it posted an operating loss of 153.9 billion yen (RM6.22 billion) and a net loss of 285.6 billion yen (RM11.5 billion).

Nissan said its global sales in Q1 2020 fell by 47.7% to 643,000 units, and as a result expects a continued drop in its vehicle sales this year. It sold 4.79 million vehicles in fiscal 2019, a drop of 13% from 2018, and sales for 2020 are expected to decline again, to 4.125 million units.

Despite this, it expects its global market share to be at 5.73%, the same level as last year, due to the global total industry volume contracting as a result of the economic impact being severely affected by Covid-19.

The beleaguered automaker has been taking steps to arrest the slide. It has previously announced that it was set to cut over 20,000 jobs, which would represent a 15% reduction of its 139,000 global workforce, and has already shuttered its manufacturing operations in Indonesia and is in process of closing its Spanish assembly plant in Barcelona.

It recently announced its four-year transformation plan, Nissan NEXT, to respond to the challenging economic outlook, and reiterated during its Q1 performance briefing its focus to continue on its core model strategy, including plans to launch 12 new models in 18 months.

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