Nissan posted a net loss of $1.4 billion in its 2008 fiscal year, the automaker announced this morning, making it the first time the Japanese automaker has posted a loss under the control of CEO Carlos Ghosn. Nissan says that it will look towards better cooperation between its Japanese arm and its French partner, Renault, to combat future losses and develop more competitive products.
Ghosn has been at the helm at Nissan for eight years, including last year when the automaker netted a 790.8 billion yen profit (a little under $8 billion).
The automaker expects that it will lose about 100 billion yen over its next fiscal year, or around $1 billion.
Though Nissan is just now emerging from a strong Ghosn-led product renaissance, the automaker has struggled to compete with ever-improving, more advanced products from rivals Honda and Toyota. Nissan, for example, does not offer a mainstream hybrid car, which has put it at a competitive disadvantage to Honda and especially Toyota. Nissan’s one hybrid offering in North America, the Altima Hybrid (pictured) features a Toyota-designed gasoline/electric propulsion system.
Though hybrids themselves aren’t major profit-makers for car companies, they do drive showroom traffic. Nissan had hoped that its GT-R would work the same way, but indications show that, although GT-Rs are hot sellers, they aren’t bringing many new customers to the brand.
North American sales are down about 35 percent this year, par with the industry, but the domestic market has taken the biggest hit. Not including the microcars Nissan sources from Suzuki and Mitsubishi, it is one of the worst-performing automakers in Japan. European sales have seen a small boost due to the Qashqai SUV, but its small cars have not seen the success some automakers have experienced.
