Jogi Tagawa, Nissan vice president and global treasurer, predicted that every one yen change in the yen-dollar exchange rate means a $85.7 million impact on the company's operating profit. Over the past six months, the dollar has dropped by 15 yen, translated in a $1.3 billion loss for Nissan.
The models subject to relocation were not made public, nor was the production volume that could be involved. Most likely, one of the targeted models is the small Tiida, which is currently manufactured both in Japan and in Mexico. The Tiida is sold on the US market under the name Versa and comes from Nissan's Mexico facilities. Mexico-built Tiidas are exported to the Middle East, Europe and Russia.
The company announced earlier this month it will cut a total of 20,000 jobs worldwide due to its projected $2.9 billion loss. More than half of them will take place in Japan, so the news of production relocation does nothing but to worsen the blow to the Japanese workforce.
New car sales figures over January is Japan's automotive industry lowest point in 37 years. Excluding mini cars with engine displacement around 660cc, sales recorded by Japanese companies were down 27.9 percent in January, to 174,281 units. Nissan posted a 31.1 percent drop in sales, the second most severe drop of all Japanese manufacturers.
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