Nissan will close its global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan until May 10, Reuters reported. Its headquarters will be closed to all but essential workers, a Nissan spokesperson said, and 15,000 employees based at the Yokohama location as well as at its main R&D centre in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture will be required to take leave from next Monday, it said.
In addition to the enforced leave as a precautionary measure to reduce the number of staff commuting to work and consequently be exposed to the risk of contracting the coronavirus, the enforced leave coincides with the ‘Golden Week’ holiday in Japan that starts on May 4. Meanwhile, those required to take leave during this time will receive ‘the majority’ of their full salaries during the period, the Nissan spokesperson added.
The measures are aimed at keeping more than 90% of its employees away from their offices, up from 80% at the moment, she said. Production at Nissan’s Tochigi plant has also been shut for most of this month, with plans for it to remain closed for most of May. The automaker’s plant in Kyushu will only operate on the daytime shift for this month and the next, with a full shutdown for four days in May, said the report.
Compatriots Honda and Toyota are also scaling down their respective manufacturing operations, Reuters reported. Toyota is expecting to reduce its domestic production by around 40% due to ‘significantly reduced output’ at its Japanese plants, while Honda will also be stopping production at selected production plants next week due to disruptions in its global supply chain, it said.
The disruptions due to measures against the spread of the coronavirus compounds pressures on Nissan’s recovery efforts. Dropping sales and profits is forcing Nissan to restructure and downsize with a possible one million-unit drop in sales target as a result, and the Japanese brand’s new recovery plan is due to be announced next month.
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