Retirement Program

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. said Tuesday it aims to cut 1,500 jobs through early retirement program in a move aimed at supporting the drooping earnings.

The early retirement program of the automaker's third-largest Japanese will be extended to some 12,000 employees in Japan and the impact on earnings will be announced Thursday, said company spokesman Simon Sproule. "This is one of the steps we have taken recently to boost performance," said Sproule. "This is to ensure that we are structurally good size."

The program follows a similar retirement program in the United States earlier this year that had targeted 300 job cuts but ended with about 775 workers accepting. Nissan cut its profit forecast by 12 percent for the year to March, after seeing a 22 percent drop in earnings last quarter of 2006.

The back strain president Carlos Ghosn to declare his business to a crisis of performance. Ghosn was once credited for saving the automaker, which was then near bankruptcy. In another blow, Nissan said earlier this year it may miss its target of selling 4.2 million vehicles worldwide in the fiscal year ending March 2009 as part of a three-year restructuring of plan.

The Japanese manufacturer will accept applications for early retirement between June 1 and March 2008. The program will be offered to full-time employees over 45 years with at least five years of service to society. In a statement, the manufacturer said that the program was designed to "balance staffing levels with the requirements of the Assembly."

However, the poor performance of Nissan's product lines has been attributed to a dearth of new models in North America and sluggish sales in Japan. In addition, industry experts predict it could take some time for Nissan to reach its goal.

Tokyo-based Nissan, which previously marketed its product lines under the name Datsun, also intends to move its headquarters to Yokohama, Kanagawa. The company said construction of the new facility will begin this year. Nissan's new facility will be ready by 2010.

Nissan is included in the top three Asian rivals of the Big Three in Detroit. She became even stronger in 1999 when he entered an alliance with France-based Renault SA The Japanese manufacturer is known for his creation of Nissan Xterra parts and units VQ engine.

Nissan VQ engines of society have been made between Ward's 10 Best Engines for 12 consecutive years since the award began. The new generation VQ will be featured on the new Infiniti G35, the future GT-R and the 2007 Nissan 350Z.

The manufacturer will also release the new generation 4-cylinder engine 2.5VQ which will equip the next generation Altima and likely will be the next power-SPEC V 2007 Nissan Sentra.