Following the news that Nissan has returned to a positive operating profit of 27.1 billion yen for the quarter ended 31 December 2020, David Leggett, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“The swing to operating profit for the latest quarterly financials is a sign that Nissan is now benefiting from a rebound to sales in key markets alongside lower incentives to push sales. There is also tighter cost management and excess capacity is being addressed as part of a bold plan to reduce fixed costs by 300 billion yen by the end of this fiscal year.

“Nissan has reduced its forecast operating loss for the year ended March 31, 2021 to 205 billion yen from 340 billion yen previously forecast – a pretty significant upward revision to profitability, especially in the context of a global Nissan sales forecast revised down by 3.6% to just over 4 million units.

“It’s a very good sign of progress for the Nissan business transformation plan that is resetting Nissan’s path after the volume-led Carlos Ghosn era.

“Key new models – such as the Rogue SUV – are also landing at the right time as market demand picks up. In North America, a major new Nissan model offensive is underway with a plan to introduce 10 new models over 20 months for the US market.

“Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida can be pleased with progress so far in the face of the pandemic. The change in strategy to a course more focused on profit than volume expansion is already bringing results.”