Nissan is cutting 20,000 jobs and slashing production, but bailout money from the U.S. is on the way:
Nissan had 240,000 employees in March 2008. It has already eliminated about 2,000 temporary jobs in Japan and has announced plans for about 4,000 more job cuts at factories in Spain and the U.S. It has scaled back global production and slowed assembly lines to shrink its inventory as car sales in the U.S. and in other parts of the world have plummeted.
The company also will trim model introductions over the next four years, releasing an average of 10 new vehicles a year instead of its original goal of 12 a year, the person said.
But Nissan isn’t making cuts to its program aimed at producing an electric vehicle by next year2010. The auto maker plans to tap a U.S. Department of Energy $25 billion loan program aimed at helping the industry develop more fuel-efficient vehicles, making Nissan the first Japanese auto maker to seek the funds. Nissan also is considering applying for low-interest loans from the Japanese government as part of an effort by the Development Bank of Japan to assist businesses hurt by the global financial crisis.
I assume protectionist Democrats and the United Auto Workers will have something to say about any taxpayer funding of non-union manufacturing facilities.