Japan’s second-biggest automaker Nissan returned to the black in January-March, despite the impact of a devastating earthquake and tsunami on production, as annual profit soared more than seven-fold. Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn told reporters the auto giant would return to “full and unrestricted production by October,” but like its peers the carmaker skipped a forecast for the current financial year due to the quake.
Sales in China, Nissan’s largest single market worldwide, hit record annual levels while sales also rose in the United States and Europe, helping to offset the negative impacts of a strong yen and faltering domestic demand. “The March 11 earthquake in Japan significantly disrupted our operations, but Nissan is once again proving its resilience in the face of adversity,” said Ghosn. Nissan was the only one of Japan’s big three automakers to post improved net income in the January-March period from a year earlier, posting a profit of 30.8 billion yen ($380.60 million) from a loss of 11.6 billion yen last year.
Toyota reported a fourth quarter net profit decline of 77 percent, while Honda saw a 38 percent fall. Nissan’s annual net profit soared 653 percent to 319.2 billion yen ($3.9 billion).
