Nissan Motor Co. closed one of its two plants in Indonesia over six months ago, a source close to the automaker has revealed, adding that the firm has stopped producing Nissan-brand cars in the country.
No vehicles have been produced under the brand since February, when the company transferred production of its compact multipurpose Livina passenger vehicle to Mitsubishi Motors Corp., an affiliate, according to the Association of Indonesia Automotive Industries.
The two plants are within the Kota Bukit Indah Industrial City in West Java province, 65 kilometers east of Jakarta.
When asked for comments, Isao Sekiguchi, president of Nissan's local unit P.T. Nissan Motor Indonesia, would only say that the automaker has implemented "production optimization and restructuring of operations."
Production of Nissan-brand cars in 2018 stood at 3,468 units, plunging 70 percent from the previous year and accounting for only 0.3 percent of total car production in the country, according to the association.
The remaining plant continues to produce Datsun cars, its alternate brand for emerging countries, posting 2,596 units of production in the January-June period this year — down 72 percent from the same period last year.
Nissan announced a global downsizing in July, with plans to cut 12,500 jobs over the next three years. The plan included cutting 6,400 jobs by March 2020 at eight production bases including Indonesia as an initial step.