Ghosn Admits, Nissan is in Crisis as Profits Tumble

Nissan is having a "performance crisis."

That's what the Japanese automaker's president, Carlos Ghosn, said on Friday after Nissan slashed its annual forecast and reported a 22 percent slump in earnings from October through December.

"We have today a performance crisis and we need to fix it as soon as possible," president and chief executive Ghosn told reporters in Tokyo in a conference call from Paris. "We don't take this lightly ... it's really an interrogation for us, about our management ways."

Japan's No. 3 automaker by global vehicle production, said net income fell to 104.5 billion yen ($870.8 million) in the fiscal third quarter, compared with 135 billion yen a year earlier.

The drop forced the Tokyo-based company to cut its profit forecast for the fiscal year through March by 12 percent to 460 billion ($3.83 billion). If realized, it would be Nissan's first annual profit decline in seven years.

Sales climbed a meager 1.8 percent from a year earlier to 2.34 trillion yen ($19.5 billion) on a 3 percent fall in unit sales to 795,000. The company also warned that it is falling behind its full-year sales target of 3.7 million vehicles.


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BMWRocks - 2/2/2007 1:42:22 PM

0 Boost

This heading is misleading. You can not be in crisis when you have less "profit" . Its more like they are slowing down. It should have spelled out "performance crisis" -- my 2 cent.

Agent009 - 2/2/2007 2:08:34 PM

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So a loss one quarter of profits is not an issue? Most shareholders might disagree with you on that.

BMWsuk - 2/2/2007 4:11:06 PM

+3 Boost

I thought Nissan would be in trouble after their best selling car, the Altima, was recalled because of a tramission problem. Dealers had to stop selling the altima before the new altima were released. Yes it was 4 cylinder engine but it stop their sale momentum.

The huge Maxima is kinda in no man land now. Is it a bigger Altima or what? Nissan needs to get rid of the maxima and make an 8 cylinder Altima.

Nissan also screwed up their family van design. The re-designed van was a total bust and have not recovered since.

I predict Mr Ghosn will be gone very soon because Nissan needs new ideas especially new designs.

S4cabriofoxone - 2/4/2007 2:57:41 PM

+1 Boost

An eight-cylinder Altima? Can you say torque-steer?

webguy - 2/2/2007 4:49:13 PM

+2 Boost

Ghosn is a strange cat. He fixes Nissan when he joins, and then keeps "fixing" things until Nissan is broken again. I’m not sure he actually knows what works or when something is working. He just makes radical changes to make himself feel like he accomplished something, and every once in a while he gets lucky.

Now that they’re broken, maybe he’ll fix ‘em again. \:-|

mini22 - 2/2/2007 4:53:39 PM

+1 Boost

I don't think Mr.Ghosn is going anywhere. He took a bankrupt company and turned it into a powerhouse. He will get the problems fixed and sales will move on.

no1listensanyway - 2/2/2007 6:03:53 PM

+1 Boost

Companies go through cycles and Nissan is no different. For some reason they have to work extra hard to keep their designs fresh. The new Altima should be a sales hog but the beloved Maxima is left out in the cold.

quizz - 2/2/2007 6:10:45 PM

+4 Boost

Companies may go through cycles, all the more amazing that we have yet to see Toyota go through a down cycle, it's as if they are still on the up cycle, not having yet reached their peak.

Nissan I'm sure is glad it didn't enter into a deal with either Ford or GM.

S4cabriofoxone - 2/4/2007 2:58:59 PM

+5 Boost

PLEASE... TURN THE CAPS LOCK OFF. IT GIVES ME PAIN TO READ YOUR COMMENTS- IN FACT, I CAN'T READ THEM. IT MAKES YOU SEEM LIKE A THREE-YEAR-OLD.

S4cabriofoxone - 2/4/2007 3:00:07 PM

+1 Boost

I agree about Nissan's styling... but "differentiate" their style like Lexus? What do you mean by that?

pchera01 - 2/3/2007 1:47:29 AM

+1 Boost

this is company did had any good model in 2006 and 2005, now, with 4-5 new models, comming year will do much better
Gas price hurts Nissan very bad

forsale_fc2004 - 2/3/2007 6:37:11 AM

+1 Boost

This is really too sad in my opinion....

I always thought that Nissan had an edge in design over Toyota and Honda in the past, and felt that they were always one up in the performance category compared to T and H.
My favorite was the A32 Maxima, G35 First Gen, and the current Altima....But imho, the problems are

1) Maxima design has gotten to ridiculous. It looks fugly, and how is it suppose to be different from the top of the line Altima.

2) They foobared the latest pathfinder design. It too imho looks fugly..just a scaled down version of the armada, which imho looks like crap.

3) The latest G35 refreshes aren't drastic enough. I thought the G35 looked cool when it came out, but the design looks kinda old now. And the refresh doesn't look that much more different.

As far as the quality is concerned, well that's what happens when you get a lot of assembly/manufacturing done by american workers :(.

ctski1 - 2/5/2007 11:39:33 AM

0 Boost

fc2004
Would you say that the Accord has a build quality issues? FYI, it is built in the US. The Camry is 75% built in the US as well.

S4cabriofoxone - 2/3/2007 10:27:55 AM

+2 Boost

At least they HAVE profits!

But, their styling is going down the toilet. When it first came out, it was fresh and stunning. But now... their recent redesigns are just a lot of "been there, done that."

Nissan shouldn't have to keep revitalizing its image.