Japanese automaker Nissan Motor posted a lower-than-expected 6.4% rise in operating profit in the December quarter. However, the carmaker hopes to maintain its annual outlook as its more profitable product mix will offset a lower full-year vehicle sales forecast. The company’s total operating profit totalled 141.6 billion yen (USD 951.80 million) for the three months to December 31 as compared with the average estimate of 179.8 billion yen in a poll of nine analysts by LSEG.
For the current fiscal year, the automaker maintained its operating profit forecast of 620 billion yen, revising its retail sales outlook for the current financial year down to 3.55 million vehicles from 3.7 million it had expected previously. The revision comes after lower forecasted sales across markets. “We are managing our business with discipline,” Nissan CFO Stephen Ma told Reuters at a press briefing. The lower sales forecasts reflected challenges such as intensifying competition and logistics issues around the company’s key markets, including China, Ma added.
In terms of global sales, Nissan saw a growth of 4.6% to some 3.3 million vehicles in 2023 as a stronger performance in North America and Europe offset falling demand for its cars in the world’s top auto market China amid fierce competition from Chinese brands. Sales in China slumped 16% last year to less than 800,000 vehicles, a trend that helped the US become the automaker’s most important market with its sales there rising 23% to almost 900,000 vehicles last year.
The Japanese automaker had previously committed to invest up to 600 million euros (USD 646.80 million) in Ampere, the electric vehicle business of its long-standing alliance partner Renault. However, the French automaker’s decision to cancel the stock market flotation of Ampere would not delay investments into the unit from Nissan, Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said last week.