According to recent news, Nissan will stop producing electric vehicles and hybrid car batteries. According to relevant sources, in order to control the production costs of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, Nissan intends to sell its joint venture with NEC (Japan Electric) Battery Production Company (AESC), and the relevant sales are currently underway.
Founded in 2007, AESC is headquartered in Kanagawa Prefecture and is a company that produces lithium batteries for Nissan Leaf electric and hybrid vehicles. According to the Nikkei, AESC Corporation holds the second largest market share of lithium batteries for automobiles, second only to Panasonic. As of March this year, its sales reached 36.6 billion yen (about 2.39 billion yuan).
Currently, Nissan has a 51% stake in the joint venture and NEC owns a 49% stake. Nissan Motors plans to sell all of its shares in AESC, and plans to sell its independent battery manufacturing business in the UK and the US.
The Nikkei reported that Japan’s Matsushita and some overseas companies intend to take over, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. is negotiating details such as selling price and personnel employment, and plans to select buyers at the end of the year. After the Nissan Motors took action, NEC will also discuss the sale of its shares in AESC.
When Nissan began to develop its electric vehicle business, it chose to design and produce batteries independently. Nissan Motor launched the Leaf electric car in 2010. As of June this year, the car sold a total of 230,000 units worldwide. In order to expand sales, Japanese manufacturers need to cut battery costs. The independent production of batteries makes it difficult for Nissan to achieve scale production and limited space for cost reduction. Many automakers such as the German car company BMW, the US electric car specialist Tesla and other car manufacturers rely on external suppliers' batteries.
The Nikkei News reported that Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. stopped producing batteries and paid more attention to the development of new technologies such as electric motors and self-driving cars. The stripping battery production business will provide funds for the transformation.
Nissan Motor plans to sell all its shares in its component company, CalsonicKansei, in May this year. The sales amount is expected to exceed 100 billion yen (about 6.5 billion yuan). The reason for the sale is also based on the need for transformation. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on May 23 that the above information was disclosed.
According to reports, due to the emergence of pure electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles, the parts and technologies necessary for automakers are changing. Nissan Motors will use the funds from the sale of shares for the research and development of cutting-edge technology to cope with the competition of the new generation of cars.
In May of this year, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. also announced that it purchased 300% of Mitsubishi Motors' shares for about 200 billion yen (about RMB 13 billion). Mitsubishi Motors was caught in a crisis due to fuel consumption. Its 2016 pre-loss can reach 100 billion yen (about 6.5 billion yuan).
Nissan Motor's latest 2016 financial report released on July 27 showed that from April to June, the company's net profit was 2.65 trillion yen (about 173 billion yuan), down 8.4% year-on-year; operating profit was 175.8 billion days. Yuan (about RMB 11.48 billion), down 9.2% year-on-year; net income was 136.4 billion yen (about 8.9 billion yuan), down 10.7% year-on-year.
Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Nissan Motors, said in his earnings report that operating profit was affected by exchange rates and continued fluctuations in emerging markets.
