Toyota Productions Drops 50.8%, Nissan Records 1st Annual Loss in 11 Years

Japanese automaker Toyota announced on Thursday that its global production dropped by 50.8% in April compared to last year to reach 379,93 cars, as the spread of the novel coronavirus led to a decline in demand rates and the suspension of production worldwide.

Also, Nissan revealed today a new plan to rationalize expenditures, after the outbreak of the virus, which exacerbated the decline in profitability, leading to its first annual loss in 11 years.

As part of a new plan for the next four years, the Japanese car maker will cut its production capacity and models by about a fifth to help cut $ 2.8 billion of fixed costs.

Toyota records zero production in the America's

As for Toyota, the largest automobile manufacturer in Japan, said that its production in North America and Latin America had fallen to such an extent that the company's productivity there was zero, as the corona epidemic closed all factories there during the previous months.

Toyota resumed production operations at its factories in the US and Canada on May 11, after a closure that lasted about 50 days, and then local authorities decided to ease restrictions on economic activities.

In Europe, the company produced only 577 cars in a factory in France, recording a decrease of 99.2%, due to the virus.

Its production in Japan decreased by 25.9% to 218,54 cars, as the company temporarily closed its factories due to the failure of supply chains and weak demand.

At the same time, the production rate in China increased by 27.8% to 143,135 cars after the production process resumed late March.

However, global sales fell by 46.3% in April, compared to last year's 423,302 cars, while sales in North America and Europe decreased by 56.4% and 83.4%, respectively.

In Japan, Toyota Motor Corporation sold 97,563 cars, down 20.1%, as the government asked people to stay in their homes as much as possible.

Nissan Kills off Datsun brand in Russia

On the other hand, Nissan unveiled yesterday concerning global production with its partners Renault and Mitsubishi, that factories were shutdown in Spain & Indonesia, exiting the South Korean market, and withdrawing the Datsun brand from Russia.

"I will make every effort to restore Nissan to the path of growth," said Makoto Yoshida, Nissan CEO, adding that the company had learned from its past mistakes that occurred when it sought to maintain a global market share at any cost.

Nissan refused to provide any forecasts for the current fiscal year that started in April due to the ambiguity caused by the pandemic, and did not the number of job cuts in the future.

Nissan posted an annual operating loss of 40.5 billion yen until the end of March, the company's worst performance since the 2008-2009 global financial crises, recording an operating profit margin at -0.4%.

The company said Thursday that it sold 4.9 million cars last year, which is more than a previous estimate of 4.8 million cars.