Auto companies around the world are delivering shockers with increasing regularity. Even while you are trying to digest Toyota’s forecast of a $4.95 billion annual loss, fellow Japanese carmaker Nissan reports a quarterly loss of $0.81 billion, giving you another big jolt. Nissan is now planning to cut 20,000 jobs, which is 8.5 per cent of its workforce. Both the companies have attributed their huge losses to (no surprises here) the global economic slowdown and the strong yen.
Apart from job cuts, Nissan’s other recovery actions will include a revision of joint manufacturing projects with Alliance partner Renault in Morocco and in India, doing away with bonus payments to the board of directors (for 2008-09), and a 10 per cent reduction in salaries paid to board members and corporate officers.
