Nissan Set To Close Historic Oppama Plant As Part Of Restructuring Bid

Nissan revealed new efforts under its 'Re:Nissan' restructuring, which now involves closing down its historic Oppama plant by 2028.

Trouble continues for embattled Japanese automaker Nissan. As part of its new ‘Re:Nissan’ restructuring plant, the automaker recently revealed its “tough but necessary” decision to shut down its Oppama plant.

Regarded as a ‘historic’ facility for the automaker, the plant is set to shut by end of Japan’s fiscal year 2027, which ends in March 2028. Following which, vehicles built at Oppama will instead be produced at the company’s other facility in Kyushu.

Recently appointed new CEO Ivan Espinosa even admitted that “it wasn’t easy – for me or for the company” to close a plant that Nissan established and continuously operates since 1961 – it has been running for about 64 years now.

Newly appointed CEO Ivan Espinosa announced the plant's planned 2028 closure this week.

Presently, the Oppama plant produces both the Note and Note Aura superminis. Previously, the same plant also built the Leaf EV hatchback, the quirky Cube hatch, as well as the March (Micra).

Looking ahead, Nissan says it is considering a “wide range of options” regarding the closed Oppama plant’s site. For now, just the factory will shut, but its research centre, crash-test facility, proving ground, and 20,000-car wharf will continue operating.

Additionally, the plant’s closure is set to affect roughly 2,400 employees. According to Nissan, the move is part of a broader strategy to reduce its global staff count by 20,000 by the end of fiscal year 2027 (March 2028).

Some 2,400 employees will be affected by the Oppama plant's planned 2028 closure noted.

Notably, not all job cuts will stem from Nissan’s manufacturing front, some are set to come from reductions in sales, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses. The automaker will also scale back expenditure on research and development.

On the products front, the automaker is set to also streamline and halve its vehicle platform count from 13 to just 7, which in turn cuts parts complexity by 70% too. This also means several new model programs have reportedly been paused too.

Established in 1961, the Oppama plant has been operating continously for 61 years now.

In fact, Nissan has a dedicated team of 3,000 employees tasked solely with cost-cutting initiatives. We’ll also point out that apart from the Oppama plant’s closure, Nissan even reportedly considered selling and leasing back its headquarters in Yokohama.

What’s certain is that the Oppama plant’s closure is amongst several drastic measures aimed at reducing global production capacity from 3.5 million to 2.5 million units.