Nissan Motor Co will stop producing vehicles at its Oppama plant in Japan by March 2028 and transfer operations to its factory in the southern prefecture of Fukuoka. The move is part of a global restructuring plan aimed at reducing capacity.
The company, Japan’s third-largest automaker, has also announced it will cease production at Nissan Shatai’s Shonan factory that builds light commercial vehicles by March 2027. CEO Ivan Espinosa said the decision was necessary for Nissan to overcome its current challenging situation.
As part of the restructuring, Nissan plans to slash global production capacity to 2.5 million vehicles from 3.5 million and manufacturing sites to 10 from 17. The company has been exploring options for repurposing assets in negotiations with multiple partners, but declined to elaborate due to confidentiality agreements.
The Oppama factory, which employs 3,900 workers, will be largely unaffected by the closure, except for about 2,400 workers who could be transferred to non-factory functions or other plants. The factory’s closure comes after Nissan faced declining sales in the US and China, leading to large debt repayments and mounting losses.
With production from Oppama set to move to Nissan Motor Kyushu, utilisation at the latter is expected to rise to 100%, compared to an average of 60% currently.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/nissan-says-oppama-plant-will-stop-production-by-end-fy202728-2025-07-15