Firm refuses to say where cuts will fall but unions are hopeful for UK’s largest car plant
The Nissan car plant at Sunderland, north-east England
Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Nissan has announced it will cut 12,500 jobs globally over the next three years but the Sunderland plant appears to have escaped any further losses.
The Japanese carmaker revealed it would cut almost one in 10 of its workforce after profit was virtually wiped out in the first quarter of its financial year.
The total reductions are bigger than expected after it emerged on Wednesday that at least 10,000 jobs would go, including 4,800 previously announced.
Nissan, which employs about 8,000 people in the UK and 139,000 worldwide, did not disclose where the cuts would fall. However, union sources are hopeful no more jobs will go at Sunderland on top of 500 voluntary redundancies already taking place.
There have been doubts for the future of the Sunderland plant, the UK’s largest car factory, with Brexit adding to wider pressures on the carmaker. In February, Nissan cited uncertainty about Britain’s departure from the EU when it shifted production of its X-Trail model from Sunderland.
Nissan produces about 2,000 cars a day in Sunderland, where the company employs about 7,000 people and is one of the city’s most important employers. The plant is highly efficient but it relies on frictionless trade in Europe to receive millions of parts arriving every day.
Japan’s second-biggest carmaker announced the job cuts as it announced results showing profit almost obliterated by falling sales and rising costs in the first quarter. Operating profit in the three months to the end of June fell 98.5% to 1.6bn yen (£11.9m) as revenue fell 12.7% to 2.37bn yen.
The job cuts are expected to fall mainly in factories in South America and other regions where Nissan’s profitability is low. Nissan will also reduce its global production capacity by 10% by the end of 2022 and cut the number of products by 10%.
The company has been hit by falling sales in Japan and the US, where it is under pressure to discount prices to better compete with rivals.
It is also trying to recover from the arrest last year in Japan of its former chairman Carlos Ghosn over alleged misuse of company funds, which he denies.
Carmakers globally are experiencing falling sales caused by trade disputes, the slowing global economy, Brexit uncertainty and tougher emissions regulations.
A Nissan spokesman at Sunderland declined to comment.