Losing Competitively, Nissan Will Close One More Factory In China

The unpleasant news came from Nissan, who was reported to be ending the operation of one of its factories in China.

Reported by Reuters on Monday, April 28, the automotive manufacturer from Japan will stop factory operations in Wuhan, China no later than May 31, 2026.

According to two sources familiar with this, the move had to be taken by them after the level of operation at the plant that produces models such as Ariya and X-Trail, fell amid intense competition with automakers from other China.

One anonymous source said the annual production of the facility leased by Dongfeng Motor has only reached around 10,000 units since the operation began in 2022.

Of course, this caused considerable losses for Nissan, which is estimated to reach 700 billion to 750 billion yen (Rp82 trillion to Rp87.9 trillion) due to a decrease in value for the financial year ending on March 31.

The factory is claimed to have a production capacity of up to 300,000 vehicles. Certainly this is not good news for brands considering they want to expand their EV model in the bamboo curtain country market.

Previously, Nissan also announced the factory closure in Changzhou, China because it was still less competitive with local manufacturers and attempted to optimize its operations last year.

The factory is operated with local Nissan Dongfeng Motor in producing the Qashqai model with an annual capacity of around 130,000 units per year.

The manufacturer has operated eight factories in China through a joint venture with Dongfeng, but they have lost the market in the country as local brands move quickly in developing affordable electric vehicles.

Of Nissan's total production capacity of 1.6 million vehicles worldwide, the Changzhou plant accounts for 8 percent of the total.