Nissan closes plant in Indonesia, halts producing its brand

JAKARTA, Sep 25, 2019, Kyodo. Nissan Motor Co closed one of its two plants in Indonesia over six months ago and has stopped producing Nissan brand cars in the country, a source close to the automaker said. No Nissan brand cars have been produced since February, when the company transferred production of compact multipurpose vehicle Livina to Mitsubishi Motors Corp, its affiliate, according to the Association of Indonesia Automotive Industries, reported the Bangkok Post.

The two plants sit in the Kota Bukit Indah Industrial City in West Java province, 65 kilometres east of Jakarta.

Asked for comments, Isao Sekiguchi, president of Nissan’s local unit P.T. Nissan Motor Indonesia, only said the automaker has implemented “production optimisation and restructuring of operations.”

Production of Nissan brand cars in 2018 stood at 3,468 units, plunging 70% from the previous year, accounting for only 0.3% of the total car production in the country, according to the association.

The remaining plant continues to produce Datsun cars, its alternate brand for emerging countries, posting 2,596 units of production in the January-June period this year, down 72% from the same period last year.

Nissan announced a global downsizing in July, cutting 12,500 jobs in the next three years. The plan included cutting 6,400 jobs by March 2020 at eight production bases including Indonesia as the initial step.