Nissan CEO says short-term focus is to fix the company

Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa on Wednesday said the short-term focus is to fix the struggling Japanese automaker, as it seeks to get back on a solid footing.

“I think in the short term, the focus that we have is to fix ourselves the company,” Espinosa told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”

“We are convinced that the plan is enough and robust,” he added.

Espinosa, who only assumed leadership of the Japanese automaker in April, faces an uphill battle to change the tide of Nissan’s whittled down fortunes.

The firm has been contending with declining sales, the transition to electric vehicles and steep global competition, particularly from Chinese rivals. These challenges have now been exacerbated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping 50% global tariffs on steel and aluminum, along with other so-called reciprocal levies on individual countries that are briefly reduced under a reprieve set to expire in July.

Last month, Espinosa revealed the company’s plans to slash 11,000 jobs and shut down seven plants, Reuters reported, amid expectations of a 3% drop in sale volumes in the current fiscal year.

At the end of last year, the company fleetingly flirted with a possible tie-up with Japanese peer Honda in talks that could have created the world’s third largest automaker by sales — but negotiations broke down in February.

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