Nissan Motor plans to close this year the Spanish plant at Avila to transform it into a warehouse to transfer these vehicles’ production and sale to its partner.
Nissan Motor plans to further decrease its presence in Europe and outsource the sale and manufacture of the cars on the continent to French partner Renault.
As part of its recovery plan, Nissan plans to reduce its sales network in 30 countries, mainly in Eastern Europe, and to close its Spanish factory in Avila, which will be transformed into a warehouse. The Japanese automaker plans to relocate its European operations and focus its efforts on China, the United States and Japan.
Nissan plans to reduce its presence in Europe further and outsource its cars’ sales and production to its Alliance partner, Renault. Nissan to close distribution channels in 30 European countries. The full picture of Nissan Motor’s large-scale restructuring program in Europe has been revealed. As part of its global recovery plan – a strategy opposed to the rapid expansion policy led by the ousted former president, Carlos Ghosn – Nissan is expected to close its distribution channels in Europe in 2021.
The withdrawal targets of the commercial network around 30 countries. It is mainly in Eastern Europe like Hungary and Poland, and parts of Western Europe such as the Netherlands. Nissan’s commercial activities in Europe will continue through Renault’s European sales network and to local importers.
Subcontracting of Production & Sales to Renault
Local production and sales will be outsourced to Renault, its Alliance partner, to accelerate the return to European activities’ profitability, a real “burden” for management. At the same time, production capacities will be reduced.
Nissan Europe Staff Reduction in France
The Japanese newspaper also specifies that the headquarters of Nissan Europe, located in France, which has the mission of supervising the manufacturer’s European activities, will reduce its staff as the sales and marketing operations decrease in the European territory.
The manufacturer will target its commercial development in five countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, and Scandinavia, where electric vehicles (EVs) are increasingly common. A paragraph “strangely” not translated by Reuters…. but indeed present in the initial article written in Japanese on the Yomiuri site….
In February 2020, Nissan announced that it would close its European headquarters in Rolle – located in Switzerland – by 2022, to eventually have only one command on European territory, in Montigny-le-Bretonneux the Paris region. It was adding that the site would ultimately bring together the staff of both entities. An operation that is part of Nissan’s desire to raise the bar and reduce costs as the group has multiplied its poor performance – financial and commercial – in recent times.
“Having two seats, one in France and one in Switzerland was not very efficient. We decided to put everything together to be more efficient in one seat here in France,” said Gianluca de Ficchy, director of Nissan Europe, during a meeting with journalists. Stating that the process would begin in 2020 and be completed in 2022.
Nissan Motor Avila plant in Spain closed after Barcelona
In addition to the factory in Barcelona (Spain), whose closure has already been announced, the Spanish factory in Avila will be converted into a distribution warehouse. With the closure of these two factories, all commercial vehicles production in Europe will be entrusted to Renault.
Nissan has already embarked on reducing its activities in Europe, wishing to focus on China, the United States and Japan. The automaker, which expects to post a record operating loss of 340 billion yen (2.71 billion euros) by March 31, 2021, is simultaneously reducing its production capacity. The number of its models on the market should be reduced by one fifth. The goal is to reduce operating expenses by 300 billion yen (2.39 billion euros) over three years.