Nissan Motor Co. delivered some great news to its investors on Tuesday, February 8. The Japanese automaker raised its net profit outlook for the current fiscal year to March to 205 billion yen ($1.8 billion), as per The Mainichi. That is significantly higher than the company's earlier projection of 180 billion yen, with the weaker Japanese currency and a reduction in costs helping Nissan boost its profit outlook for FY 2021.
Nissan now forecasts its operating profit at 210 billion yen, higher than the 180 billion yen the company projected in November of last year. The carmaker lowered its sales projection for the business year by 90 billion yen to 8.71 trillion yen. For the April to December period of 2021, Nissan reported a net profit of 201.34 billion yen, a massive turnaround from a loss of 367.72 billion yen the year before.
Despite the ongoing supply chain issues brought upon by the semiconductor shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic, Nissan did not adjust its global sales target, maintaining its goal at 3.8 million vehicles.
Nissan Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta talked to the press in an online briefing about the company's positive results. He said they are approaching the next few months with cautious optimism, given the unpredictable environment surrounding them.
He added that Nissan's main problem at the moment is not how many they want to sell but how many they can produce. Gupta noted that the more semiconductors the company can procure, the more growth Nissan will have this year, reported MarketWatch.
Helping Nissan's cause and other Japanese automakers at present is the weaker yen. Nissan's overseas profits are boosted when repatriated to Japan because of the weaker currency back home.
Gupta also updated Nissan's development of new internal combustion engines for the European market. He said that the Japanese firm has decided to halt those plans, given that stricter emission regulations are expected to take effect in Europe by the year 2025.
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According to Gupta, the company's decision to stop the development of combustion engines was based on the belief that it would cost less for European customers to acquire electrified vehicles once the emission regulations take effect in the continent.
That being said, Nissan will instead focus its resources on electrifying its vehicles as global competition for greener cars intensifies. Gupta said, "For Nissan, electrification should be the consequence of the natural choice of customers." Nissan is making a hard push for electrification in Europe, with the Japanese automaker targeting to have 75 percent of its fleet made up of electric vehicles by the fiscal year 2026.
Just Auto reported that Nissan strengthened its alliance with Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Renault SA last month. The three automakers announced that they will invest 23 billion euros ($26 billion) over the next five years to help launch 35 new EV models by the year 2030.
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