Nissan was one of only a handful of automakers that posted healthy sales despite $4 a gallon gas earlier this year, but the subsequent economic downturn has eliminated those gains, with the Japanese automaker poised to report an annual operating loss.
An inside source revealed to Automotive News that Nissan is planning to publicly cut its financial forecast later this month. An exact figure has yet to be revealed, but it is believed that Japan’s number three automaker will post its first operating loss since Carlos Ghosn took over as company CEO in 1999.
Like its cross-country rival Toyota, Nissan has been hit with the perfect storm of collapsing sales and an ever-stronger yen. “The yen is climbing, the U.S. economy is worsening at an unprecedented pitch, and structural changes in the car industry mean the pie will grow smaller and smaller for some time,” Tatsuya Mizuno, analyst at Fitch Ratings, told Automotive News. “I would not be surprised to see Nissan fall into the red.”
During the month of December, Nissan saw its U.S. sales fall by 31 percent, with a similar drop off expected for January. Although no final figure has been decided on, Nissan could be facing an operating loss totaling in the double-digit million dollar range.
