11:56 am, February 9, 2023
Nissan saw its profit jump by 55 per cent between October and December, it revealed today.
Profit for the quarter at the Yokohama-based manufacturer was 50.6bn yen (circa £320m), which was up from 32.7bn yen (£230m) last year.
Sales surged by 29 per cent to 2.8trn yen (£18bn) as the shortage of computer chips that has battered the world’s carmakers gradually eased, Nissan said.
The crunch was caused by Covid-related lockdowns and other restrictions that hindered its ability to deliver vehicles to customers.
Some buyers were kept waiting for a year for their Z sports car or Ariya sport utility vehicle, said chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta.
‘We really don’t want our customers to wait this long,’ he told reporters.
Nissan now expects to sell eight per cent fewer vehicles for the full fiscal year to March than previously projected, at 3.4m units, because of the semiconductor supply shortages and impact from the spread of coronavirus infections in China.
Last month, Nissan and Renault told how they would be redefining their mutual relationship. Both companies approved equalising the stake each holds in the other to 15 per cent, bringing a better balance to the alliance.
Meanwhile, Toyota today reported an 8.1 per cent drop in its third-quarter profit after also being hit by the global shortage of semiconductors as well as soaring raw material costs.
Its October-December profit was 727.9bn yen (£4.6bn), which was down from 791.7bn yen (£5bn) the previous year.
The company said it was doing its best to find other computer chips suppliers to keep up with demand. Higher material and energy costs slashed profitability, it said.
Toyota has, however, kept its global consolidated vehicles sales forecast for the fiscal year to March unchanged at 10.4m vehicles. During the previous fiscal year, it 10.38 million vehicles.
Quarterly sales rose 25 per cent to 9.75trn yen (£61bn).
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