Nissan Motor Co. confirmed it will not move forward with the construction of an electric vehicle battery plant in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. The project, announced in January, involved an investment of 153.3 billion yen (approximately $1.05 billion) and the creation of 500 jobs.
“After careful consideration of investment efficiency, we have decided to cancel the construction of a new LFP battery plant,” the company stated. The decision is part of a broader restructuring plan aimed at improving financial performance.
According to information from Japan’s Ministry of Industry, the factory was expected to have an annual production capacity of 5 gigawatt-hours and to begin operations in July 2028 or later. The Japanese government had allocated a subsidy of up to 55.7 billion yen to support the initiative.
At the same time, the Nikkei reported that Nissan is planning to offer early retirement to several hundred employees in Japan, marking its first domestic workforce reduction in 18 years. The company declined to comment on the report.
The automaker had previously announced plans to cut 9,000 jobs globally and reduce production capacity by 20%. The last early retirement program in Japan was in 2007, when Nissan eliminated 1,500 positions in response to declining domestic production.
The restructuring is being led by new CEO Ivan Espinosa, who replaced Makoto Uchida last month. The company recently forecasted a record net loss of between 700 billion and 750 billion yen (roughly $4.80 billion to $5.14 billion) for the fiscal year ended in March, due to impairment charges.
Nissan is expected to present its full-year financial results and provide an update on its recovery actions on Tuesday.
