Nissan on Wednesday cut its global sales outlook for the fiscal year ending March 2027 to between 2.97 million and 3 million vehicles, down from 3.15 million, the second reduction since August, when it lowered the forecast from 3.3 million. The company kept its full-year operating profit and net cash guidance unchanged, and said that in China weaker demand, a faster than anticipated shift to new energy vehicles and intensifying competition are putting greater pressure on sales than initially anticipated.
Second quarter operating profit fell 96 percent to 2.1 billion yen, well below the 54.9 billion yen analysts expected according to FactSet, as the prior year’s benefit from lower US emissions related expenses dropped out; net revenue rose 8.2 percent to 3.1 trillion yen. Chief executive Ivan Espinosa told CNBC the fight-back runs through China itself: Nissan will expand exports of China-developed vehicles from two models to five across 12 regional market clusters, using the speed, cost and technology of its Chinese rivals, while its turnaround plan has delivered 365 billion yen of savings so far.