But U.S. market conditions will make a rebound challenging for Nissan, said Michelle Krebs, an executive analyst at Autotrader.
“This all comes at a very bad time because we are in the post-peak era of vehicle sales,” Krebs said. “New product does not stay fresh very long, and refreshing takes money. Nissan is stuck in a situation where they don’t have the money.
“I don’t see any sign it is working yet,” Krebs said.
Uchida conceded the complete revival plan is still a work in progress.
According to people familiar with the board’s thinking, some directors want Uchida to move faster to make dramatic cuts. That may include shuttering plants, slashing more jobs and possibly revamping operations at Datsun, the brand relaunched as an entry-level product line for emerging markets.
Globally, Nissan is awash in overcapacity, as former Chairman Carlos Ghosn pushed the carmaker to achieve higher volumes while building factories for an emerging market boom that never fully materialized.
Nissan’s worldwide factory utilization rate is around 75 percent, when a healthy rate should be in the range of 80 to 85 percent, said one person close to the situation.
“There is a need to do more than what has been announced, and that may include closing plants,” said one person familiar with the board’s thinking. “They are asking them to go faster.”
Progress is coming slowly in part because Nissan, for the first time, is trying to coordinate its global restructuring plans with the operations of its alliance partners, Renault and Mitsubishi. The goal is to make cuts at Nissan that can be best counterbalanced by the other carmakers.
Going forward, Nissan will coordinate its turnaround plans with Renault and Mitsubishi, especially in hot spots such as Indonesia and India, where Nissan shares a plant with Renault.
In Indonesia, where Mitsubishi is the strongest partner, Nissan suspended production at its own local plant in an effort to clear bloated inventory. Nissan also has decided to pull the Datsun brand from the Indonesia market.
