By Anthony Henson, May 19, 2025
It’s hard to say whether Nissan’s consideration of closing its Japanese manufacturing plants is a strategic move to prompt a government bailout, but one thing is clear: Nissan is in serious trouble. Two car assembly plants in Japan — along with overseas factories, including those in Mexico — are now under review as part of the cost-cutting plan the company announced last week.
What we’re witnessing with Nissan is a textbook case multi multi-corporation restructuring — a company backed into a corner by years of market decline and strategic missteps, now turns to its favourite solution: cut costs by cutting workers.
Nissan is reportedly considering closing two of its long-standing Japanese assembly plants — Oppama and Shonan — a move that would reduce its domestic manufacturing footprint to just three factories. Internationally, production facilities in South Africa, India, Argentina, and possibly two in Mexico are also on the chopping block.
This all comes under the guise of a “turnaround plan” led by the company’s new CEO, Ivan Espinosa, who has made a clear departure from his predecessor’s vision of global expansion. Instead of confronting the structural issues plaguing the auto industry — including overcapacity, declining demand, and technological disruption — Nissan, like many of its peers, is falling back on the oldest corporate trick in the book: slashing labour and consolidating operations.
The numbers paint a grim picture. Nissan’s vehicle sales in fiscal year 2024 stood at just 3.3 million — a staggering 42% drop since 2017. To “solve” this crisis, the company plans to cut its global workforce by 15% and shrink its factory base from 17 to 10.
This isn’t about innovation or efficiency. It’s about preserving profits in the face of decline, no matter the human cost. Thousands of workers, many with decades of experience, now face unemployment, while Nissan rebrand’s cost-cutting as “strategic realignment.”
And yet, even as Japanese media outlets report these looming closures, Nissan insists the details are “speculative.”