Nissan Motor’s global production in December fell 35.9% year-on-year to 176,174 units, the company said on Wednesday.
Production in Japan decreased 40.9% to 67,672 units while overseas output was off 32.3% to 108,502.
US production fell 55.8% to 21,240 units and in Mexico, where more temporary cuts were announced this week, December production decreased 23.3% to 22,995 units.
UK production fell 46.4% to 13,275 units. The company earlier this month announced shift reductions and changes that would see 1,200 workers lose their jobs.
Spanish output fell a massive 82.4% to 2,449 units.
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By GlobalDataOne positive note: production in general overseas markets (GOM) grew 11.5% to 48,543 units due to increased demand in China for the X-Trail small SUV and mid-size Teana sedan.
“2008 saw global vehicle demand decline sharply due to the global financial and economic crisis. In response, Nissan has made continuous production adjustments in order to manage inventory levels and ensure a balanced production supply,” the automaker said in a statement.
Reflecting the sharp sales dives in almost all global markets in the final months production for full calendar year 2008 decreased only 1.1% to 3,394,830 units and production in Japan actually rose 9.7% year-on-year to 1,293,082 units.
Overseas production dropped 6.7% year-on-year to 2,101,748 units reflecting the slowdown that began mid-year in North America where US production decreased 22.5% to 545,057 units and Mexico was down 9.2% 450,968 units.
UK production rose 9.3% to 386,555 units while Spain saw a decrease of 29.5% to 157,237 units.
Production in the GOM regions grew 18.2% to 561,931 units due to increased demand for the Teana in China and the Livina series in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Africa and the Philippines.
Global sales in December fell 20.1% year on year to 254,754 units.
Japanese registrations last month fell 21.7% to 26,932 units though Nissan’s share of its domestic market was up 0.1 percentage points to 14.7%.
Domestic sales of mini-vehicles were down 14.0% to 8,041 units.
Including mini-vehicles, Nissan sold 34,973 units in Japan, down 20.1% year-on-year. Market share was down 0.5 percentage points to 11.4%.
Sales in the US decreased 30.7% to 62,102 units.
Europe sales fell 25.6% to 36,646 units. Market share was up 0.2 percentage points to 2.7%.
Sales in the GOM regions were down 8.7% to 96,398 units. Sales in China increased 6.0% to 53,761 units.
Global calendar year 2008 sales increased 0.9% to 3,708,074 units.
Including mini-vehicles, Nissan sold 678,126 units in Japan, down 5.9%. Market share was down 0.2 percentage points to 13.3%.
Sales in the US decreased 10.9% to 951,350 units.
Europe sales rose 5.5% to 601,647 units due to increased demand for the Qashqai and Tiida (Versa). In Russia, sales increased 26.5% to 154,340 units.
Sales in the GOM regions were up 15.3% from the previous year to 1,180,085 units.
Nissan’s exports in December decreased 58.3% overall to 34,925 units with North America down 72.4% to 9,664 vehicles. Exports to Europe fell 89.1% to 1,031 units.
But Nissan’s calendar year exports rose 20.2% year-on-year to 776,738 units, including a 17.2% increase (303,413) to North America and a 20.2% increase to 96,486 units for Europe.