Nissan Motor Co announced on Wednesday that it expects to post a modest net profit for the current fiscal year after recording a substantial loss for the second consecutive year. The Japanese automaker said its restructuring programme, branded “Re: Nissan,” has moved the company beyond a recovery phase and into a period of growth.
For the 2025‑26 financial year Nissan reported a loss of 533 billion yen (about $3.4 billion), following an even larger deficit of 671 billion yen the year before. Operating profit slipped to 58 million yen from 69.8 million yen a year earlier. Despite the setbacks, the company forecasts a net profit of 20 million yen, operating profit of 200 million yen and revenue of 13 trillion yen, up from 12 trillion yen in the prior year.
CEO Ivan Espinosa said the firm has “strengthened our foundation and begun to see tangible progress in our financial performance.” He added that Nissan is now “entering a phase of growth.” The outlook comes as Nissan continues to close factories and cut jobs, targeting the elimination of 20,000 positions by 2028 as part of its cost‑reduction drive.
Nissan’s challenges are compounded by broader headwinds affecting the Japanese automotive sector. U.S. tariff pressures, the prolonged conflict in the Middle East and intensifying competition from Chinese manufacturers have squeezed margins across the industry. Internally, the company has struggled to keep pace with the shift to electric and hybrid vehicles, a lag that contributed to its recent losses.
Analyst Tatsuo Yoshida of Bloomberg Intelligence highlighted three fundamental issues for Nissan: waning product competitiveness in North America, a sharp decline in sales in China, and erosion of brand power. He warned that these problems are unlikely to be resolved quickly and stressed the need to monitor whether new product launches will translate into sustainable profitability.
Nissan’s woes are mirrored by other Japanese makers. Honda is expected to report its first operating loss since 1957, largely tied to a 2.5 trillion‑yen impairment linked to a stalled electric‑vehicle strategy. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker by unit sales, recently projected a 22 percent drop in net income for the current fiscal year. By contrast, Yoshida noted that Honda’s current loss is a one‑off strategic charge, while Nissan’s underlying product and brand weakness remain more structural.
The broader context includes ongoing negotiations between Japan and the United States. Japan has pledged $550 billion in U.S. investment by 2029 in exchange for a reduction of threatened tariffs from 25 percent to 15 percent. Although the U.S. Supreme Court annulled former President Donald Trump’s global tariff scheme earlier this year, a new blanket 10 percent duty remains in place.
Nissan’s projected return to profit, albeit small, signals the early impact of its restructuring measures. The company’s ability to revive product appeal, especially in key markets such as North America and China, will be critical to sustaining any upside. Observers will be watching the rollout of new electric and hybrid models, as well as the effectiveness of cost cuts, to gauge whether Nissan can truly shift from a recovery trajectory to genuine growth.
