(Bloomberg) -- Nissan Motor Co. plans to cut at least 5,200 additional jobs globally to improve its performance, more than doubling the number flagged earlier this year, Kyodo News reported, citing unidentified sources.
The dismissals come on top of the plan unveiled in May to shed 4,800 jobs, revamp car models and boost poor sales in the U.S. The further cuts would take the total number of reductions to 10,000, or more than 7% of Nissan’s workforce. Nissan shares rose 1.1% in early trading on Wednesday in Tokyo.
A representative for Nissan in Japan declined to comment. Kyodo said Nissan is expected to reveal the plan when it reports quarterly results on Thursday.
Nissan is under pressure to revive its business following car-inspection scandals as well as last year’s arrest and ouster of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, bringing deep tensions with alliance partner Renault SA (PA:RENA) to the surface. The carmaker’s operating profit fell to the lowest in a decade in 2018.
Nissan’s operating profit will decline 66% to 37.2 billion yen ($344 million) in the first fiscal quarter through June, according to the average of analysts’ projections compiled by Bloomberg. Sales will decline 3% to 2.63 trillion yen, analysts predict.
Ghosn, arrested in November in Tokyo on allegations of financial misconduct, is free on bail as he prepares for a trial that will probably start next year. The former chairman of the alliance between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., has denied all charges against him.
Separately, Nissan is preparing to end production of its NV200 van in Barcelona within the next two years, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported, without attribution.
(Updates with shares in second paragraph.)
