Nissan Reports Sharp Drop in March

The automotive industry is currently divided into two opposed parts: the struggling automakers who are still fighting for survival and crying  for government money (count here General Motors, Chrysler and others) and the manufacturers who are already reporting the first signs of recovery (such as Mazda, Lamborghini and a few more companies).

Unfortunately, the most recent figures unveiled by Nissan places the Japanese automaker in the first group, with global production in March decreased by 44.9 percent to 172,195 units and global sales dropping 28.3 percent to 310,361 units compared to the previous year.

"Production in the General Overseas Markets (GOM) decreased 14.7% year-on-year to 46,312 units despite increased demand in China for Teana (introduced in June) and X-TRAIL (introduced in November)," Nissan said in the official sales figures published today.

Nissan lowered production in almost every single market, including in Japan (55.6 percent to 61,910 units), the United States (47.4 percent to 25,120 units), United Kingdom (35 percent to 20,926 units) and Spain (79.6 percent to 3,180 units). Global production for the year ending on March 31, 2009 was decreased by 16.9 percent to 2,918,532 units.

In terms of sales, Nissan reported decreased deliveries in Japan (33.5 percent to 59,283 units), outside Japan (28.3 percent to 231,394 units), the United States (37.7 percent to 66,634 units) and Europe (47.7 percent to 41,938 units). Global sales declined by 9.9 percent to 3,420,957 units compared to the previous year.

Exports fell as well, according to the official figures provided by Nissan, including those to North America (58.7 percent to 11,631 units) and Europe (82.7 percent to 1,476 units). Overall, Nissan's exports in March decreased 65.9% year-on-year to 25,164 units.