Reports claim Rosslyn to be one of Nissan’s plants facing closure

Nissan’s global restructuring plan, Re:Nissan, will reportedly lead to the closure of its Rosslyn Plant outside Pretoria as part of its factory consolidation from 17 to 10.

No chance but to reduce

This comes after the Japanese brand announced last week that it would reduce its global workforce by a further 20 000 jobs on top of 9 000 last year, and shut seven factories after posting a record R82.2-billion revenue loss for the 2024 financial year.

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“The reality is clear. We have a very high cost structure. To complicate matters further, the global market environment is volatile and unpredictable, making planning and investment increasingly challenging,” CEO Ivan Espinosa was quoted by AFP as saying.

Under the Re:Nissan plan, the brand will not only reduce its workforce and close plants by 2027, but revise its research and development programmes while cutting parts complexity as well as vehicle platforms from the current 13 to seven.

In the firing line

According to the latest report from Reuters, the factories reported for closure are the Oppama and Shonan plants in Japan, one of its three facilities in Mexico, and the Chennai and Santa Isabel Plants in India and Argentina co-operated by alliance partner, Renault.

While the latter pair will likely involve Nissan selling its stake as opposed to Renault also withdrawing entirely, seemingly more clear-cut, as per cars.co.za, is the closure of Rosslyn, which currently only produces the Navara for the local and Sub-Saharan African markets.

Still committed

Despite Nissan’s admission as recent as September last year that it was looking into producing a second model as a replacement for the NP200, this no longer seems to be the case.

“[Rosslyn is what we call] a frame plant, and we are looking into a second model because we need a second model to sustain the operation in South Africa.

“What I can say is that we are looking at [a second model],”Chairperson for the Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania regions, Guillaume Cartier, said at a roundtable discussion after the unveiling of the all-new Patrol in Abu Dhabi last year.

Subsequently, Nissan Managing Director for South Africa and Independent African Markets, Maciej Klenkiewicz, told the media at the launch of the facelift Magnite in November that the second model is being studied while alluding to brand as having no plans on leaving.

In March, Nissan announced not only the arrival of the Patrol by 2026, but two new SUVs spun-off existing Renault products to be made in Chennai.

More later

While no word has so far been made by Nissan South Africa, the supposed closing of Rosslyn, which has been in operation since 1966, will have a direct impact on its workforce after the initial work cut of 400 in 2023 as a result of the NP200’s departure.

In its statement, Nissan said will adopt a “market specific approach” with Japan, Europe, the Middle East, China, the United States and Mexico being identified as key markets.

As mentioned, expect clearer details about Nissan South Africa and indeed the future of Rosslyn to possibly emerge over the coming weeks and months.

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