Nissan Motor said yesterday it remained mired in the red in the April-June quarter because of weak sales in recession-hit major markets including at home, the US and Europe.
But Japan's number three automaker, in which France's Renault has a 44-per cent stake, said it was seeing some signs of an improvement and voiced optimism about prospects for its zero-emission electric vehicles.
Nissan, which is axing 20,000 jobs to cope with the global economic crisis, logged a net loss of 16.53 billion yen ($175 million) for the fiscal first quarter to June, against a year-earlier profit of 52.80 billion yen.
Operating profit plunged 85.5 per cent to 11.60 billion yen as revenue slumped 35.5 per cent to 1.51 trillion yen.
"This year continues to be a tough year, but we are beginning to see positive results from the measures taken under our recovery plan," said Nissan chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn, who also heads Renault.
Nissan's global vehicle sales fell 22.8 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 723,000 vehicles, as declines in North America, Japan and Europe wiped out the benefits of rising demand in China. In order to tap the strength of the Chinese market, Nissan said its joint venture partner there, Dongfeng Motor Co., would invest about $730 million to build a new production line at a plant in Guangzhou City by 2012.
Nissan reiterated its forecast to end the full business year to March 170 billion yen in the red, after a 233.7 billion yen shortfall the previous year - its first annual loss in almost a decade.
Although the company beat its own expectations for the first quarter, eking out a profit at the operating level thanks to cost cuts, it said it was too soon to change its forecasts.
"We believe it is still premature to change our full-year outlook," said chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga.
Nissan, which was slower than rivals Toyota and Honda to embrace fuel-sipping petrol-electric hybrids, aims to take a lead in zero-emission cars and will unveil its first model to the public in Japan on Sunday.
The cars, to be launched in the US and Japan next year, will "spearhead our vision for mass-market zero-emission mobility," Mr Ghosn said.