(Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co Ltd will cut global production by about 15 percent for the current fiscal year ending March 2020, as it shifts away from the aggressive expansion campaign promoted by former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Friday.
That would be the steepest production cut in more than a decade by the Japanese automaker, as it battles weak sales in overseas markets including the United States where it plans to scale back sales operations, the Nikkei reported.
Nissan aims to produce about 4.6 million units in fiscal 2019, the Nikkei said, citing plans being communicated to the automaker's suppliers. The move is likely to impact earnings and could cast a pall over Nissan's alliance with French automaker Renault SA, the Nikkei reported, without elaborating.
Earlier this year, Nissan, which has been battling falling sales, lowered its operating profit forecast for the current fiscal year to 450 billion yen (3.09 billion pounds), 22 percent lower than a year earlier. It would be Nissan's lowest profit since 2013.
Nissan was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.
Shares in Nissan, mired in a financial misconduct scandal involving Ghosn and the company itself, were trading down 1.2 percent early on Friday, versus a 0.6 percent rise in the broader market.
(Reporting by Rama Venkat in BENGALURU; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Christopher Cushing)
