Coronavirus casts shadow over Nissan's earnings outlook

With no end to epidemic in sight, carmaker's reliance on China will exact a toll

According to estimates by Goldman Sachs Japan, 45% of Nissan's net profit came from China in the previous fiscal year, much higher than Toyota's 11% or Honda's 30%. © Reuters

TATSUYA OKADA, Nikkei staff writer

February 13, 2020 16:30 JST

TOKYO -- A dark cloud is hanging over Nissan Motor's road to recovery, as it prepares to announce its earnings results for the April to December period of 2019 on Thursday.

The growing coronavirus epidemic in China, where the Japanese automaker earns about half its net profit, has slowed the Japanese automaker's effort to bring local plants back up to speed. Factory shutdowns in China, in turn, have disrupted Nissan's supply chain, bringing a Japanese plant to a halt as well.