Nissan plans to slash costs after first loss in 11 years

Nissan Motor Co outlined a new plan on Thursday to become a smaller, more cost-efficient carmaker after the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated a slide in profitability that culminated in its first annual loss in 11 years.
Under a new four-year plan, the Japanese manufacturer will slash its production capacity and model range by about a fifth to help cut 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) from fixed costs.
It will shut plants in Spain and Indonesia, leave the South Korean market and pull its Datsun brand from Russia as part of a strategy unveiled on Wednesday to share production globally with its partners Renault and Mitsubishi Motors.
"I will make every effort to return Nissan to a growth path," Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said, adding that the company had learned from its past mistakes of chasing global market share at all costs.
"We must admit failures and take corrective actions," he said, adding that starting with top-level managers, the company had to break its inward-looking culture which in the past has stymied efforts to deepen cooperation with France's Renault.
Uchida said improving the company's cash flow was its biggest challenge. He reiterated that Nissan's cash liquidity was good even though it had negative free cash flow of 641 billion yen in the year ended in March.
Nissan declined to give any forecasts for its current financial year which started in April due to the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic. It also declined to give details on how many jobs it was cutting.