Nissan revises US production cuts after tariffs

TOKYO: Nissan said today it would revise plans to reduce production in the United States after President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on auto imports.

The company also said it would stop selling in the US market two vehicle models that are made at a factory in Mexico.

Nissan is currently trying to tackle financial difficulties — including by consolidating production lines at two factories in the United States.

But it said today it was tweaking its plans to adapt to Trump's levies, which came into force Thursday.

"We will maintain two shifts of production of Nissan Rogue at our Smyrna, Tennessee plant, keeping more localised volume in the US that is free of the new auto tariffs," a Nissan statement said.

Also, "we are pausing any additional orders of the Infiniti QX50 and QX55 for the US market produced at the COMPAS plant in Mexico," the statement said.

"Production is expected to continue for those models sold in other markets," while "production of other US models in Mexico and Japan continue based on market needs".

Nissan added that it "currently has ample inventory at our US retailers that is unaffected by the new tariffs".

Last year, 30 percent of Nissan's global unit sales — 924,000 vehicles — were in the United States.

Of this total, 525,000 were made in US factories and the rest were imported from plants in Japan and Mexico.

Nissan, which forecasts a loss of more than $500 million this financial year, replaced its CEO in March following the failure of merger talks with rival Honda.

Moody's has downgraded Nissan's credit rating to junk, citing its "weak profitability driven by slowing demand for its ageing model portfolio".

Fitch and S&P Global Ratings have also downgraded it to a speculative category.