Reuters reports that as part of a cost-cutting plan that Nissan flagged last week, the company is said by sources to be considering plans to shut two car assembly plants in Japan as well as overseas factories, including in SA.

The carmaker is mulling closing Japan’s Oppama plant, where Nissan started production in 1961, and the Shonan plant operated by Nissan Shatai, in which Nissan is a 50% stakeholder. Overseas, Nissan was considering ending production at plants in SA, India and Argentina, and cutting the number of factories in Mexico, one of the sources said. Nissan indicated on its website that reports on the potential closure of certain plants were speculative and not based on any official information. Nissan SA assembles the Navara one-tonne pickup for the local market and export at its factory in Rosslyn, which employs about 1,200 people. The plant’s production volumes have seen a decrease due to the discontinuation of the popular NP200 half-tonne bakkie. The plant has also experienced a decrease in sales for the Navara. Nissan SA’s Thato Maphoto could not confirm reports that the Rosslyn factory might shut down, as consultations were still happening internally.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at BusinessLive

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