Nissan, once a global symbol of Japanese automotive engineering, is taking dramatic steps to stabilise its finances after several tough years. On Thursday, the automaker announced it sold its high-profile headquarters in Yokohama, just outside Tokyo, to MJI Godo Kaisha—a special-purpose trust backed by the Hong Kong-listed Minth Group—for ¥97 billion (about Rs 5,600 crore).
While Nissan will continue to operate from the complex, the deal involves a long-term lease arrangement, freeing up much-needed capital. But it is a humbling moment for the company’s once-grand aspirations.
The Japanese automaker expects an immediate boost of ¥73.9 billion (around Rs 4,300 crore) to its profits for the current fiscal year. The embattled vehicle manufacturer looks to use the funds to fuel a modernisation push, with a special focus on AI-driven digital transformation—a centrepiece of Nissan’s latest turnaround plan.
This restructuring comes as Nissan navigates a prolonged period of weak earnings. The company recorded a loss of about ¥670 billion (a staggering $4.4 billion) for the last financial year and recently issued guidance for an operating loss of ¥30 billion in the first half of fiscal 2025, though the July-September quarter saw a brief operating profit thanks to cost controls and project delays.
CEO Ivan Espinosa, who assumed the role in April 2025, is spearheading the recovery with deep cost cuts. His plan includes shutting down several manufacturing plants—including the iconic Oppama plant near Tokyo by March 2028—and cutting Nissan’s worldwide workforce by roughly 20,000, or 15 per cent.
Nissan’s unlucky streak
The skyline sale is a stark reminder of Nissan’s plunging fortunes, as it moves away from imperial ambitions to a focus on “capital efficiency and transformation”—usually business-speak for a major cashflow problem. In a manner of speaking, the deal is necessary for Nissan’s liquidity. But it also talks about the brand’s fall from grace.
Nissan’s financial troubles began nearly a decade ago and have been driven by a mix of internal issues. After its revival in the early 2000s under Carlos Ghosn, Nissan pursued a “volume at any cost” strategy—putting all its eggs into the heavy discounts and expansion basket.
This did help in short-term growth, but it also piled on costs and punished profit margins, especially during the early 2010s era of intense global competition.
In 2018, an explosive corporate scandal erupted when Ghosn, the architect of Nissan’s turnaround and then-chairman, was arrested for alleged financial misconduct. This shook investor confidence and destabilised Nissan’s leadership. The alliance with Renault soon hung by a tiny thread.
But the nail on the hearse was indeed Nissan’s new cars failing in the market. Profits fell, and then 2020 happened. The COVID-19 pandemic, global semiconductor shortage, rapid technological shifts to electric vehicles, the failed Honda merger. One by one, the blows kept coming. Soon, Nissan found itself announcing sweeping restructuring, letting tens of thousands people go, closing plants, and selling assets just to stay afloat.
The latest move could be Nissan’s last-ditch effort to save itself. It has already invested heavily to reinvent itself for the electric era. But it needs to tackle its cashflow problem.