Nissan Motor swung back to operating profitability in the second quarter, posting its strongest quarterly result in over a year as the automaker’s efforts to streamline fixed costs and robust North American sales took hold.
For FY2Q26, Nissan reported an operating profit of JPY 51.5 billion ($342 million), a 61% jump from JPY 31.9 billion in the same period a year earlier. The outcome surpassed expectations, beating an average forecast of a JPY 70.9 billion loss by five analysts surveyed by LSEG.
The return to profit marks a turnaround from a first-quarter operating loss and is Nissan’s best result since posting a JPY 90.3 billion profit in the final quarter of fiscal 2023.
CEO Ivan Espinosa said at a briefing that Nissan anticipates even stronger performance in the second half of the fiscal year, buoyed by a product-focused strategy and sustained momentum from the second quarter. Excluding impact from tariff, Nissan is on its way for operating profit to break even, Espinosa said, highlighting particularly strong sales in North America.
Nissan is continuing with an ambitious turnaround plan, which includes downsizing its global manufacturing footprint from 17 to 10 plants and reducing its workforce by 15%. The company reaffirmed last week’s forecast for a JPY 275 billion operating loss for fiscal year 2026, reflecting ongoing challenges from U.S. tariffs and supply chain disruptions, especially related to shortages of Nexperia semiconductor chips.
Production of the Rogue, the company’s best-selling SUV in Japan, is being scaled back starting next week due to limited supply of chips from the Netherlands-based Nexperia, according to a source cited by Reuters. Nissan also announced it would halt production of Nissan-branded vehicles at the COMPAS plant—a facility it operates jointly with Mercedes-Benz in Mexico—at the end of November.
Earlier Thursday, Nissan disclosed it had completed a JPY 97 billion sale-and-leaseback deal for its global headquarters in Yokohama.
