Japan’s carmakers report steep losses, job cuts

Honda and Nissan both reported staggering losses, the latest sign of the Japanese car industry’s woes.

Honda’s operating profits dropped 76% in the three months to April, while Nissan — which yesterday announced 20,000 global job cuts — announced record-breaking losses. Rival Toyota already forecast a 21% drop in profits this year, which it blamed on US tariffs. Japan’s carmakers have been slow to pivot to electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, and are struggling to sell cars in China, in the face of competition from Chinese rivals such as BYD, which recently passed $100 billion in revenue.

In February, Honda and Nissan abandoned a merger plan which would have created the world’s third-largest automaker.