Nissan is clearly on the road to recovery. As the brand continues with its Re:Nissan strategy, the Japanese carmaker has swung into profitability for the first three months of its 2025-2026 fiscal year.
The plan delivered an additional 60 billion yen in first-quarter savings and contributed to a year-on-year improvement in operating profit, supporting progress in profitability, competitiveness and recovery.
In the first quarter, Nissan recorded global sales of 701,000 units and consolidated net revenue of 2.964 trillion yen, up 257 billion yen over the prior year. Consolidated operating profit returned to positive territory at 77.9 billion yen, an improvement of 157 billion yen, driven by progress in manufacturing and vehicle cost reductions, favorable foreign exchange, improved sales performance and disciplined cost management. In addition, one-time gains related to FY2025 U.S. tariffs contributed to operating profit. Net income also returned to positive territory at 3.8 billion yen, improving by 119.5 billion yen.
Driving Nissan’s strong performance is its Re:Nissan strategy.
In the U.S., the “Built in the U.S. for the U.S.” strategy continues to sustain momentum and strengthen competitiveness. Nissan remains the fastest-growing mainstream brand over the past 10 months and has achieved 16 consecutive months of year-over-year retail sales growth. In the past quarter, Nissan sales in the U.S. grew nearly 10 percent.
In Japan, Nissan is building momentum through a renewed product lineup and stronger customer demand. Customer response to the all-new Kicks and all-new Elgrand has been encouraging, with cumulative orders reaching 11,000 and 8,000 units, respectively, supporting early signs of a sales recovery.
In China, Nissan is executing a strategy to rebalance and revamp the business through disciplined inventory management and accelerating its electrified vehicle momentum led by the N6, N7 (Primera), NX8 and Frontier Pro (Navara Pro). China will also become an important export base for Nissan, particularly for markets such as the Philippines.
Cost-reduction initiatives under Re:Nissan are delivering tangible results. In the first quarter, Nissan realized approximately 60 billion yen in savings, driven primarily by variable cost reductions. The improvement reflects ongoing efforts to enhance efficiency across manufacturing, purchasing, R&D and other business functions, supported by disciplined expense management and a continued focus on operational excellence across the company.
However, Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa had to reevaluate its full-year sales targets. Instead of seeing a growth of 4.7 percent year-on-year to 3.3 million vehicles, the carmaker is now projecting sales to end up at 3.15 million vehicles—a slight dip year-on-year.
Reasons for the decline include the Middle East conflict and the Kumamoto earthquake which has been disrupting its supply chain. It also cites a tougher-than-expected China market where Nissan expects its sales to drop 11 percent to 580,000 units. Originally, the carmaker expected sales to increase to 710,000 units from 653,000 last year.
“The environment remains challenging, particularly in China and the Middle East, but our direction is clear. We are managing disruption where it exists, building momentum where we see opportunity, and executing Re:Nissan with discipline and urgency.
Across our key markets, we are adapting our strategies to changing conditions, strengthening product competitiveness, improving our cost structure and becoming more agile as a company.
Our focus is unchanged: creating value for customers, improving profitability and free cash flow, and building a stronger, more resilient Nissan for the long term,” said Espinosa.
Adapt or Perish
ReplyDeletethanks to the u.s. market and not china why nissan is still alive. all of their bread and butter vehicles are not chinese collaboration like the rogue, pathfinder, sentra, kicks etc. the newer chinese collab cars are only a few and in the future plans
ReplyDeleteNissan is saved by rebadging junk Dongfeng vehicles which is looked down in quality in China as Nissan quality cars to brand enthusiasts
ReplyDeleteSource please.
DeleteNah! Nissan sales down 30% in china. Nissan was save due to cost cutting , streamlined operations and improved sales in North America
DeleteThose rebadged Dongfeng products is their ticket to becoming a top brand again here in the Philippines. If they sell those rebadged Dongfeng products with prices that compete against Chinese vehicles (which they easily can because they are Chinese-built), Filipinos will flock towards the established Nissan name instead of the Chinese brands.
DeleteNon chinese automakers should significantly reduce their cost and operations in China.
ReplyDeletenissan saved by usa dragged down by china
ReplyDeleteNissan leveraging their Chinese partnership products is a very smart move. Instesd of gatekeeping the cheap-to-make and quick R&D of their Chinese partners (like Toyota and Honda does), they will instead export these Chinese models even if they aren't doing too well in China.
ReplyDeleteImagine if Toyota didn't gatekeep their Chinese products. We'd have the bZ3X which is way better than the Maruti/Suzuki-based Urban Cruiser.