December 1, 1999
Nissan Motor to Merge U.S. Units, Cut 1,000 Jobs in Restructuring
Dow Jones Newswires
GARDENA, Calif. -- Nissan Motor Co. said late Tuesday it will
consolidate
its U.S. manufacturing operations with its North American headquarters
and
cut 1,000 U.S. jobs as part of a global restructuring announced in
October.
Nissan North America Inc., based in Gardena, Calif. and handles
marketing,
design, sales and distribution -- will be combined with Nissan Motor
Manufacturing Corp. USA of Smyrna, Tenn., by April, the company said.
Manufacturing operations will remain in Tennessee and will report to the
California headquarters.
Nissan Reports Group Net Loss of $3.04 Billion for First Half (Nov. 23)
The job cuts will take place during the next 15 months and affect U.S.
operations as high as the executive level, said Nissan, Japan's No. 2
auto
maker. Under Nissan's restructuring plan, created following Renault SA's
37%
acquisition of the Japanese auto maker, the company plans to reduce its
work
force by 21,000 jobs during the next three years, with most cuts
occurring
in Japan.
Nissan also is restructuring its legal, finance and human-resources
units, a
spokeswoman said. In addition, the company is cutting its regional U.S.
operations to six locations from eight.
Nissan Motor reported one of the biggest losses in Japanese corporate
history, posting a 323.5 billion yen ($3.04 billion) group net loss for
the
six months ended Sept. 30. Nissan forecasted a full-year loss of 590
billion
yen, as controlling shareholder Renault pushes ahead with its campaign
to
turn around the struggling auto maker.
The announcement was Nissan's second bombshell in two months. The huge
charges seemed to signal that Nissan is biting the bullet and taking as
much
pain as possible now, as it concentrates on turning around its business
operations. In October, its new Chief Operating Officer Carlos Ghosn,
whom
Renault sent to Tokyo earlier this year to engineer a turnaround at
Japan's
No. 2 auto maker, unveiled a deep cost-cutting program.
Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
--
Dennis Currington
1966 Solex 2000
San Diego
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