Nissan is preparing to cut nearly 20,000 jobs globally as the Japanese car giant battles to turn around its ailing fortunes.
The company plans to axe a further 11,000 roles on top of 9,000 already announced, according to reports on Monday.
These stark figures underline the scale of the crisis facing the automaker, which is nursing huge losses.
The combined redundancies represent around 15 per cent of Nissan's entire workforce. The job cuts will unsettle tens of thousands of workers, including some 6,000 at Nissan's plant in Sunderland.
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Nissan has yet to comment on the reports of 20,000 job losses from Japanese media
GETTY/PA
The Japanese parent company has so far refused to comment on the report, which was first published by Japan's public broadcaster NHK.
Nissan has been in crisis mode since November, when it revealed a staggering 70 per cent fall in profits. It also warned that jobs and production rates would have to be reduced.
The carmaker's woes have been blamed on a collapsing market share in China, where its sales have more than halved in the past four years.
Nissan is also still searching for a new industrial partner following the scaling back of an alliance with France's Renault. A merger attempt with domestic rival Honda was aborted in February.
READ MORE: Nissan boss says UK is 'not a competitive place to build cars' with 'all sorts of different issues'
Nissan admitted that it had been slow to adapt to electric vehicles
REUTERS
GB News has contacted Nissan UK for a comment on the future of the Sunderland manufacturing site.
Nissan and its Japanese rivals have been slow to develop their own electric models, leaving them flat-footed against Chinese manufacturers.
Companies such as BYD, Chery and Geely are producing hugely popular electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.
Stephen Ma, Nissan's new boss in China, admitted last month that the company had been too slow adapting to the changed market.
He explained: "The Chinese brands were too fast, to be honest. They were exceptional in how fast they moved. It took everybody by surprise. Now I think we have reset."
At the Shanghai Auto Show, Nissan unveiled two electric and two hybrid concepts with local partner Dongfeng in an attempt to regain lost ground in the crucial Chinese market.
Against this grim backdrop, Nissan is expected to confirm on Tuesday that its financial losses have dramatically worsened, Reuters warned.
The company's losses for the 2024-25 financial year have reportedly ballooned from a previously forecasted ¥80billion (£410million).
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Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak at Nissan's Sunderland factory celebrating a £2billion electric vehicle investment in November 2023
PAThey are now expected to reach between ¥700billion (£3.57billion) and ¥750billion (£3.83billion).
This represents a nearly nine-fold increase in projected losses, highlighting the severity of the crisis facing the Japanese automaker.
