Nissan will eliminate another 11,000 jobs and close seven plants

Japanese carmaker Nissan has said it will cut another 11,000 jobs globally and shut seven factories as it shakes up the business in the face of weak sales.

Falling sales in China and heavy discounting in the US, its two biggest markets, have taken a heavy toll on earnings, while a proposed merger with Honda and Mitsubishi collapsed in February.

The latest cutbacks bring the total number of layoffs announced by the company in the past year to about 20,000, or 15% of its workforce.

It was not immediately clear where the job cuts will be made, or whether Nissan’s plant in Sunderland will be affected.

The government said the plant was of “vital importance” to the north east of England, and that it would “engage closely” with Nissan over its restructuring plans.

Nissan employs about 133,500 people globally, with about 6,000 workers in Sunderland.

Two-thirds of the latest job cuts will come from manufacturing, with the rest from sales, administration jobs, research and contract staff, said the company’s chief executive, Ivan Espinosa.

The latest layoffs come on top of 9,000 job cuts Nissan announced in November as part of a cost saving effort that it said would reduce its global production by a fifth.

In February, talks between Nissan and its larger rival Honda collapsed after the firms failed to agree on a multi-billion-dollar tie-up.

The plan had been to combine their businesses to fight back against competition from rival firms, especially in China.

The merger would have created a $60bn (£46bn) motor industry giant, the fourth largest in the world by vehicle sales after Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai.

After the failure of the negotiations, then-chief executive Makoto Uchida was replaced by Mr Espinosa, who was the company’s chief planning officer and head of its motorsports division.

Nissan also reported an annual loss of 670 billion yen ($4.5bn; £3.4bn), with US President Donald Trump’s tariffs putting further pressure on the struggling firm.

Mr Espinosa said that the previous financial year had been “challenging”, with rising costs and an “uncertain environment”, adding that the results were a “wake-up call”.

The car giant did not give a forecast for income in the coming year due to the “uncertain nature of US tariff measures”.

It said it expected flat profit this year even without accounting for the impact of tariffs.

Last week, Nissan announced it had scrapped plans to build a battery and electric vehicle factory in Japan as it cuts back on investment.

The firm has been in trouble in key markets, including China where growing competition has led to falling prices.

In China, many foreign carmakers have struggled to compete with homegrown firms such as BYD.

China has become the world’s biggest producer of electric vehicles, with some established car-making nations having failed to anticipate demand for the new technology.

In the US, another major market for Nissan, inflation and higher interest rates have hit new vehicle sales, although Nissan retail sales rose slightly last year.

But sales fell 12% in China, and also dropped in Japan and Europe.