Nissan said on Friday it has cancelled plans to build a 153.3 billion yen ($1.05 billion) electric vehicle battery plant in Kitakyushu, southwestern Japan, as the company undertakes a strategic overhaul to address weak performance and mounting losses.
The factory, originally announced in January, was intended to produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries with an annual capacity of 5 gigawatt-hours and was expected to create around 500 jobs. The Japanese government had pledged up to 55.7 billion yen in subsidies to support the project, which had been scheduled to begin production in or after July 2028.
āAfter careful consideration of investment efficiency, we have decided to cancel the construction of a new LFP battery plant in Kitakyushu City,ā Nissan said in a statement, adding that the decision was part of āimmediate turnaround actionsā to support a performance recovery.
The move comes amid a broader restructuring led by newly appointed CEO Ivan Espinosa, who succeeded Makoto Uchida last month. Nissan is reducing production capacity, closing facilities, and cutting staff as it prepares to recover from an expected record net loss of 700 billion to 750 billion yen ($4.80 billionā$5.14 billion) for the financial year that ended in March.
The automaker is expected to provide further details on its recovery strategy and financial outlook when it releases its annual results on Tuesday.