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Japanese carmaker Nissan reported its first profit for fiscal 2021 for the first time since fiscal 2019. Nissan sold 3.876 million vehicles worldwide in fiscal 2021, down 4 per cent from a year earlier, according to financial data. Although sales declined, revenue profit increased. In fiscal 2021, Nissan achieved a consolidated net income of 8.42 trillion yen, an increase of 7.1% over the same period last year; operating profit of 247.3 billion yen, while a loss of 150.7 billion yen over the same period; at the same time, Nissan's net income for fiscal year 2021 was 215.5 billion yen, compared with a loss of 448.7 billion yen last fiscal year.

Nissan said in its financial report that "due to the continued spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, chip supply shortages, rising raw material prices and other external factors, the operating environment in fiscal 2021 is full of challenges." At the same time, Nissan is still beset with difficulties in fiscal year 2022 due to a variety of factors. Nissan expects sales to grow 18.8 per cent in fiscal year 2022 (April 2022-March 2023), but operating profit will grow by just 1 per cent.

As Japan's third-largest carmaker by sales, Nissan's performance in fiscal 2021 was more like a new beginning. In 1998, Nissan was mired in a debt crisis because of mismanagement. Ford and Daimler were interested in buying Nissan but hesitated because it was in a debt crisis. French carmaker Renault eventually bought a 36.8 per cent stake in Nissan for $5.4 billion, becoming Nissan's largest shareholder. and won the right to increase its shareholding to 44.4% five years later.

In 2000, Carlos Ghosn, vice president of Renault, became the CEO of Nissan and put forward a "Nissan recovery plan", which led Nissan to turn a profit. Dongfeng Nissan was established in 2002 and successfully entered the Chinese market. In the same year, Nissan took a 15 per cent stake in Renault, but the cross-shareholding relationship between Renault and Nissan was unequal, with 44.4 per cent of Nissan with voting rights, while Nissan owned only 15 per cent of Renault. As a result, Renault can influence Nissan's related operations, while Nissan's impact on Renault's operations is almost negligible.

In 2016, Carlos Ghosn once again led the Renault-Nissan alliance's acquisition of Mitsubishi Motors, holding 34% of Mitsubishi Motors, becoming Mitsubishi Motors' largest shareholder and having a veto in major management decisions. Mitsubishi Motors also became a member of the Renault-Nissan Alliance and eventually became the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. And Carlos Ghosn was chosen as the next chief executive of Mitsubishi Motors.

It has to be said that Carlos Ghosn is important to the establishment of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, and Carlos Ghosn's reform of Nissan was once regarded as one of the most successful cases in management. However, success is also "Ghosn", defeat is also "Ghosn", "Ghosn incident" has become the fuse of Nissan's losses.

Renault was the largest shareholder of Nissan, but Nissan was suspended within the alliance, which caused Nissan's dissatisfaction. In 2017, Nissan elected Hiroshi Nishikawa as CEO in an attempt to get rid of the rule of Ghosn. By 2018, Nissan had complete control of Nissan, while Ghosn was arrested by the police for undisclosed huge compensation and misappropriation of Nissan funds to buy real estate bonds and stocks for individuals. The "Ghosn incident" can be said to be based on secret investigations and reports within Nissan, and shortly after Ghosn's arrest, Nissan issued an official statement accusing Ghosn of a series of misconduct.

At the end of 2019, Ghosn escaped from Japan and went to Lebanon with the help of security personnel led by former U.S. Army Special Forces members. Ghosn, who successfully absconded, said many times that he was innocent and that he was arrested entirely because Nissan "came up with a means to force him to step down." According to the New York Times, Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan, but the Lebanese government has issued a ban on Ghosn from leaving Lebanese territory.

At the same time, Hiroshi Nishikawa was also found to be overpaid and eventually forced to resign. On September 16, 2019, Nishikawa Guangren stepped down as president and CEO. Nissan announced on October 9, 2019 that the company's senior vice president, chairman of Nissan's China Management Committee, and president of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., will serve as president and CEO.

On February 18, 2020, Uchida said at the shareholders' meeting that "if we can't reverse the decline of Nissan, we are willing to accept the fate of being fired." When he was president and CEO, Nissan's operating profits and sales were declining, which put great pressure on him, and the company hoped that he would take positive measures to revive his performance. However, for Ueda, as soon as he took office, he encountered an epidemic, and no matter how perfect the strategy and planning were, he could only shelve it. Of course, Nissan's success in turning losses into profits in fiscal 2021 may be the best way for Uchida to prove himself.

In May 2020, Nissan issued the Nissan NEXT Enterprise Transformation Plan, which aims to rationalize production capacity, optimize operations, give priority to core markets, focus on core models and core technologies, and restore the vitality of the business foundation. "FY2023 is the last year of the company's Nissan NEXT corporate transformation plan, so FY2022 is very important to us," Uchida said. Despite the tougher operating environment, Nissan will continue to steadily press ahead with its Nissan NEXT corporate transformation plan globally, achieving a 5 per cent operating margin in fiscal year 2023. "

The smooth progress of the "Nissan NEXT" transformation plan has made a great contribution to Nissan's profits, but the current epidemic is still grim, and the supply chain crisis is unfolding, especially in the Chinese market. Nissan's development has been at a disadvantage. As one of the four major markets, China is of great significance to Nissan, but the competitiveness of Nissan's products in China is declining, and its products are only supported by Xuanyi, Teana and Xiaoke. Qijun's sales are declining due to the replacement of three cylinders. at the same time, Nissan has passively developed in the field of new energy vehicles, and there is always no decent product on the market, if it can not quickly make up for the deficiency. Nissan's problems in China will be even trickier.

Data show that Nissan's cumulative sales in China (passenger vehicles / light commercial vehicles / complete vehicle imports) from January to April 2022 were 368125, down 23.4% from the same period last year, of which the cumulative sales in the passenger car sector was 301, down 23.8% from the same period last year. As for the decline in sales, Nissan Senior Vice President and Chairman of Nissan's China Management Committee, Yamazaki Chuang Ping, president of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., said: "the continuing chip shortage, supply chain disruptions and key regional and urban controls caused by the intensification of the COVID-19 epidemic have had a sustained impact on product production and sales."

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