Trump tariffs pose existential threat to Nissan struggling to survive world market
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The hit could reverberate through the automotive sector in Mississippi and Tennessee, where Franklin-based Nissan Americas produces models including the Altima, Murano, Rogue, Maxima, Leaf, Pathfinder, Frontier, and Titan.
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"The problem is Nissan, which is basically barely making money in the automotive business," said James Hong, head of mobility research at Macquarie. Many of the models it builds in Mexico for export to the U.S. are more compact cars like the Sentra and Kicks, which are targeted at cost-conscious consumers who can't easily absorb higher prices.
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Given the disruption facing the auto industry globally, the tariffs couldn't come at a more inopportune time for most automakers.
"Mr. Trump doesn't seem to get that you can't change automotive production overnight," said CLSA's Richter.
"In the meantime, they're going to try and charge the consumer as much as they can to offset that and eat as little of the tariff as possible."
https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/cars/2025/02/05/trump-tariffs-effects-japan-nissan/78213807007/