Nissan Wins Best Operating Profit In A Year, Strategy To Cut Costs With Sweet Fruits

Nissan Murano 2025. (Photo: Nissan USA)

JAKARTA - After many problems since the past year, Japanese automotive manufacturer Nissan Motor posted operating profit in the second quarter (July-September) with the best results in more than a year. This positive performance was driven by efforts to cut aggressive costs under recovery plans and increased sales in North America.

The company based in Yokohama posted operating profit of 51.5 billion yen (Rp 5.6 trillion) for the second quarter. This figure jumped 61 percent compared to profit of 31.9 billion yen (Rp 3.4 trillion) in the same period the previous year.

Referring to a Nikkei Asia and Reuters report, quoted on Friday, November 7, the financial report not only reversed operating losses in the first quarter but also far beyond market expectations. Nissan managed to beat an estimated average loss of 70.9 billion yen (Rp7.7 trillion) from five analysts surveyed by LSEG.

Nissan CEO, Ivan Espinosa, expressed optimism for the second half of the fiscal year, with stronger performance projections driven by product growth and continued momentum from the second quarter.

"We remain on track to get to the break-even point of the operating profit, excluding the tariff impact," Espinosa said, adding that this year was still a transition year.

Despite the improving quarterly results, Nissan still maintains an estimated 275 billion yen (Rp30 trillion) annual operating loss for the year ending March 2026. This annual loss is predicted to be due to the impact of US tariffs and supply chain risks, including the supply problem of chips from Nexperia.

North America Rises, Japan Weakens

Regionally, Espinosa highlighted that sales in North America showed strong performance in the second quarter. This increase is supported by a more focused marketing strategy on regionally produced models, simplification of dealer programs, and greater emphasis on retail businesses than fleet sales.

In contrast, retail sales in Japan decreased by 16.5 percent in the first half of this year. Espinosa said that this was due to customers' concerns about the company's financial situation, although the sentiment began to improve as demand for the new Roox "kei" model grew.

This financial performance comes as Nissan continues its large-scale recovery plan which includes reducing global manufacturing factories from 17 to 10 locations, as well as plans for termination of employment (PHK) to 15 percent of the global workforce.

Regarding the issue of supply chains, the company has announced it will reduce production of its best-selling Rogue sport utility vehicle (SUV) in Japan starting next week due to a shortage of Nexperia chips. In addition, Nissan will also stop production of cars at the COMPAS plant in Mexico run with Mercedes-Benz at the end of November.