June 26 (Bloomberg) — Nissan Motor Co., the world's fourth-largest carmaker by market value, said it cut production for the fifth straight month in May after domestic and U.S. sales fell. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. built more vehicles.
Nissan built 248,349 vehicles globally in May, down 11 percent from a year earlier, the Tokyo-based carmaker said in a release today. Domestic production plunged 25 percent to 81,551 units, it said.
Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn has been cutting production as the carmaker struggles to stem sales drops in the U.S. and Japan, the world's two largest auto markets amid a lack of new models. Sales in Japan fell 10 percent for the five months ended May 31, while those in the U.S. dropped 3 percent.
“Nissan doesn't have new models in the U.S. or Japan for the first half and that's weighing on sales,'' said Yasuhiro Matsumoto, a senior analyst at Shinsei Securities Co. in Tokyo. “Domestic production is falling because the automaker is exporting less.''
Toyota, the world's second-biggest automaker, boosted global production last month by 10 percent, building 639,512 vehicles. Honda, Japan's third-largest automaker, made 297,065 vehicles, an increase of 6.8 percent. Toyota and Honda built a record number of vehicles for May, the two companies said.
Nissan shares fell 1.4 percent to 1,216 yen at the 3 p.m. close in Tokyo. Toyota shares rose 0.7 percent to 5,830 yen. Honda shares rose 0.1 percent to 7,290 yen.
Cutting Output
In response to the lower sales, Nissan stopped one shift and cut the working time by 30 minutes at its Oppama factory in Kanagawa, near Tokyo, in April, the company said today. It also reduced the working time by two hours at its Tochigi plant, north of the capital. Read More
