MANILA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Japanese carmaker Nissan has announced it is shutting down its assembly operations in the Philippines as part of its restructuring plan across the globe, the Philippine government said on Thursday.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the Philippines said the automaker informed it on Wednesday about the company's plan to shut down its assembly operations for its Almera model in the Philippines.
According to the DTI, Nissan said the move is "in line with the group's global plan to optimize production and efficient business operations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region."
"The announcement of Nissan to close their assembly operations in the country is regrettable, as these developments all the more demonstrate the critical situation of the local motor vehicle industry," Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a statement.
The DTI said that only 133 assembly workers are going to be affected by the closure, as operations of the company's marketing and distribution network will continue to sell units imported mainly from Thailand and Japan.
Nissan is the third carmaker to close operations in the Philippines. Honda and Isuzu also shut down operations last year.
Lopez said that Nissan had been mulling the closure of the assembly operations last year due to weaker volume sales and low market share of the Almera. In the Philippines, Nissan Almera's sales of around 4,500 represents just 1 percent of the total vehicle market.
According to the DTI, since 2019, Nissan had already closed plants across Europe, the United States and some developing countries and have laid-off approximately 42,500 workers globally. Enditem
