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Nissan To Cut Back Domestic Production

Nissan will halt operation of one of its lines at its main plant in Yokosuka, cutting back its annual domestic production capacity by 15 percent.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Nissan Motor Co. will halt operation of one of its two production lines at its main plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in July, cutting back its annual domestic production capacity by 15 percent to 1.15 million units, company sources said Thursday.

Shrinking export profits due to the yen's appreciation as well as sluggish domestic market have led major Japanese automakers to scale down their production. Toyota Motor Corp. also plans to gradually reduce its annual manufacturing capacity by 400,000 to 3.2 million units.

It will be the first time Nissan has trimmed its domestic production capacity since the company shut down its plant in Musashimurayama, Tokyo, in 2001 after Carlos Ghosn came in as its president.

The Oppama plant in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, has an annual production capacity of 430,000 vehicles including compact cars such as the Note and Cube. The company will not decommission the line to be halted, leaving open the possibility of resuming production in the future.

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