Nissan to slash 20,000 jobs worldwide

Japanese carmaker Nissan is set to make 20,000 job cuts worldwide over the next 12 months.

The job losses represent 8.5% of its workforce and are as a result of the slump in global demand for cars.

Last month, the company announced 1,200 jobs were to be axed at its UK plant in Sunderland.

The car industry worldwide has suffered as consumers cut back and many other companies within the industry have been making cut backs.

Honda, Japan’s second-largest carmaker has shut down its UK plant in Swindon for four months, while Japanese carmaker Mazda announced it is to axe over 500 more jobs in Japan.

Fellow Japanese carmaker, Toyota, last week announced full-year losses would be three times higher than originally predicted.

Also last week, Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi said it expected a net loss of 60 billion yen for the 12 months to 31 March, compared with a profit of 34.7 billion yen a year earlier.

Nissan said it expects to make a loss of 265 billion yen (£2 billion) for its current financial year.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s chief executive, said the industry is in turmoil and Nissan is no exception.

The company added that directors on the board will forego bonus pay for the year ending March, while managers’ salaries will be cut by 5%.

Finally, the company said it sold 731,000 vehicles worldwide between October and December 2008, down 18.6% from the same period a year ago.

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