Nissan cutting thousands of jobs, faces tough road ahead
MEDFORD - Major car brand Nissan could be in trouble after the company announced a 90% decrease in profit from last year.
"A car company as big as Nissan that's hard to wrap your head around," said Medford truck driver Melvin Swafford.
The struggling brand plans to cut 9,000 jobs globally and 20% of its global manufacturing.
Swafford is concerned for workers heading into the holidays. "The people that work for them they will be out of jobs and that's a difficult one," said Swafford.
Experts say the company will have to take drastic measures to maintain its cache of cars in the U.S.
"The news from Nissan, it's certainly not good when you hear about job losses you have to fear for workers," said Peter Ireland, an economics professor at Boston College.
Nissan is blaming the drop in revenue on model year transition or lack of vehicle updates an aging portfolio and a shift to hybrid vehicles.
Professor Peter Ireland is familiar with the company's report. "Nissan's biggest markets are China where they've experienced fierce competition with low-cost electric vehicles and then here in the United States where they've just had difficulty delivering popular vehicles in the market," said Ireland.
"Implementing actions to ensure financial stability"
Nissan released a statement saying in part, "Nissan is implementing actions to ensure financial stability, reinforce our product lineup, and secure profitable growth."
That includes releasing a new line of vehicles, beginning production on the new generation of the Nissan Murano this week, but will that be enough?
"Consumers are going to hesitate you know buying a Nissan right now when the future of the whole company is at stake," said Professor Ireland.
Nissan is not the only one in trouble. The CEO of Stellantis announced his resignation creating instability within the company responsible for the popular Jeep brand.
In the meantime, Melvin Swafford is keeping an eye on any potential sales at local dealerships as we head into the Christmas season.
"We're in the market for a new vehicle, Nissan hasn't been ruled out. If they're going to discount the cars to try to liquidate them... I would definitely buy a Nissan," said Swafford.
