Japan’s second-largest automaker said it expects a loss of $4.5 billion (3.5 billion pounds) this year, as the coronavirus hampers its recovery efforts.
The worst-than-expected forecast came here, as corporate forecast sales would be the weakest in a decade.
This is the most recent indication of the extent of pandemic damage to the automotive industry.
“The market outlook remains dubious and we could see further deterioration due to an imaginable pandemic wave,” Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida told investors.
Uchida also said the company would pay dividends to shareholders this year.
Nissan’s global sales slumped 48% in the April-June period as they halved in North America and fell by 40% in China.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the company was wrestling with a number of issues.
In May, Nissan announced a primary recovery plan after reporting its biggest loss in two decades during the last fiscal year.
From the four-year plan, production will be reduced by 20% and Nissan’s plant in Barcelona, Spain, will be closed.
The company’s UK factory in Sunderland was spared but Nissan’s global chief operating head told the BBC that the operation would be “unsustainable” if the UK leaves the European Union without a trade deal.
In May, Nissan’s alliance, Renault, announced that it would cut 15,000 international jobs from a cost-cutting plan of 2 billion euros (1.8 billion pounds) after seeing sales drop due to the pandemic.
“This plan is essential,” said Acting Director Clotilde Delbos, who announced a major in electric cars and pickup trucks.
Some 4,600 jobs will disappear in France, and Renault said six plants are being tested for cuts and closures imaginable.