Nissan Motor is on track to hit its net profit target for the current fiscal year, chief executive Carlos Ghosn has said, after missing last year’s target by about 10%.
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The automaker last month forecast net profit of 480bn yen ($US3.95bn) for the year to the end of March 2008 and, asked by Reuters if Nissan would hit that target, Ghosn said: “We are pretty confident, but it’s only two months into the fiscal year so we’ll have to see.”
The news agency noted that Nissan missed its $4.4bn profit target for 2006-07 by a tenth and its fourth-quarter profit fell by nearly half as the company announced employee buyout programmes in both Japan and the United States.
Ghosn, speaking to Reuters after a speech in Detroit, said he expected industry-wide sales in the United States – Nissan’s largest market – to weaken this year as a weak housing market and higher petrol prices bite.
Nissan’s US sales fell more than 11% on an adjusted basis in April and were roughly flat in January-April, Reuters noted.
According to the report, Ghosn also said he had not had any contact with Cerberus, the private equity firm that acquired Chrysler in a $7.4 billion deal earlier this month, to discuss any alliance possibilities but he does see further auto industry consolidation.
