Official: Nissan says they're not closing Thailand plant after all

The future of Nissan is being put into question as its planned merger with Japanese automaker Honda did not materialize.

With CEO Makoto Uchida sharing the company’s turnaround plan to keep the company alive, part of Nissan’s plans is to reduce its workforce and consolidate its global production lines to cut down on operating costs.

Among the first to be mentioned were plants in Smyrna and Canton plants in the US, as well as in Thailand. With the latter being the factory that makes most of Nissan Philippines’ most popular models, there’s indeed a concern going forward. Fortunately, we were able to talk to executives from Nissan Philippines, and they were able to shed some light regarding the future of the Thailand factory and the brand’s plans going forward.

Here’s the official statement from Nissan Philippines:

“As part of Nissan's global turnaround measures and ongoing business transformation in ASEAN and Thailand, Nissan is consolidating part of vehicle production in Thailand's Plant #1 to Plant #2 and upgrading the lines starting from Q1 FY2025. This effort aims to optimize fixed costs as well as prepare for future model localization in Thailand.

Plant line #1 will be closed for vehicle assembly and the facility will be used for body and press shops and operations logistics.

Thailand will remain a key market for Nissan in Southeast Asia, and the company continue its commitment to grow its business and brand in ASEAN and Thailand markets.”

Contrary to previous reports of a factory closure, it turns out Nissan intends to keep its Thailand factories operational, but will instead repurpose one of the plants as part of its restructuring.