Nissan cuts shifts, offers employee buyouts at 3 US plants in bid to shed jobs

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nissan Motor is offering buyouts to workers and cutting back shifts at three U.S. factories, a company spokesperson said on Thursday, as the automaker pushes to slash $2.6 billion in costs globally.

Nissan will offer the separation packages to workers at its vehicle assembly plants in Smyrna, Tennessee, and Canton, Mississippi, and an engine plant in Decherd, Tennessee.

Japan's third-biggest automaker by volume will slash one of two shifts at the production line for its Rogue sports utility vehicle in Smyrna starting in April, and for the Altima sedan in Canton from September.

In addition to Smyrna, Nissan also produces Rogues at its Kyushu factory in southwest Japan, its top plant in its home market. Reuters previously reported Nissan was cutting output by a third in August 2024 at that plant amid weak U.S. demand for some of its ageing line-up, including the Rogue.

Nissan's spokesperson declined to say how many U.S. workers it hopes will take the voluntary buyout offer. The company could potentially cut up to around 1,500 jobs with the move, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier on Thursday.

Nissan does not plan to conduct involuntary layoffs, the spokesperson said, adding that the company employed more than 11,700 workers at the three U.S. plants as of end-2024.

In November, the company announced a plan to cut 9,000 jobs worldwide and reduce the maximum capacity of its 25 vehicle production lines as it suffers from a sales slump in China and North America.

Less than two months after the company unveiled that plan, Nissan and Honda Motor said they would start talks on a merger that could potentially create the world's third-largest auto group with annual output of 7.4 million vehicles.

(This story has been corrected to add the dropped word 'billion' in paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink. Editing by Gerry Doyle)