A new management team took office at Nissan Motor at the beginning of December, led by CEO Makoto Uchida who took over from Hiroto Saikawa who was forced to resign earlier this year after admitting to being overpaid by the company.
The main task set by Uchida is to restore the profitability of the Japanese carmaker by moving away from the high volume discounting model of the previous management and focusing on launching new high value vehicles.
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This, after the company's operating profits plunged by 85% in the first half of the 2020 fiscal year (April-September 2019), while global revenues declined by almost 10%.
According to local reports citing company insiders, Nissan plans to discontinue production of low cost models – including the Datsun brand – in emerging markets such as India, Indonesia and Russia due to fierce price competition.
The move would be part of a major revamp of the company's global operations, involving heavy investments to switch capacity to electric and hybrid vehicles and close a number of unprofitable assembly lines worldwide.
The Datsun brand was revived in 2013 as a key strategy to strengthen the company's presence in fast expanding emerging markets under the leadership of former chairman Carlos Ghosn.
New Nissan CEO rules out closer financial ties with Renault
