Nissan's losses for the January-March quarter shrank dramatically as Japan's No. 3 automaker benefited from a global auto recovery and booming car sales in China.
Nissan Motor Co. said Wednesday its quarterly loss was 11.6 billion yen ($125 million) — a fraction of the 276.9 billion yen loss recorded a year earlier, crediting cost cuts and sales growth in emerging markets.
The Yokohama-based maker of the March subcompact, Leaf electric car and Infiniti luxury models said the results were better than expected, and promised to achieve a complete recovery in the current fiscal year ending March 2011.
Nissan — allied with Renault SA of France, which owns 44 percent of the Japanese automaker — posted a profit of 42.4 billion yen for the full year and expects profit to more than triple to 150 billion yen ($1.6 billion) in the year through March 2011.
"Though we are still operating in crisis mode, Nissan is well on track toward complete recovery without any compromise to our strategic priorities," said Nissan President and Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn, who also heads Renault.
Nissan's annual revenue fell 10.9 percent to 7.52 trillion yen ($81 billion), partly because of the strong yen, which erodes the sales of Japanese exporters like Nissan.
Nissan is expecting annual revenue to recover to 8.2 trillion ($88.5 billion).
The automaker had a loss of 233.7 billion yen in the year through March 2009 as car sales plunged amid the global financial crisis.
Ghosn said Nissan's 11-year alliance with Renault, which allows the automakers to share auto parts and technology, will be key to keeping the recovery going.
Also to its advantage is a new partnership announced last month with German automaker Daimler AG, he said.
Ghosn said details weren't ready to be announced on how the tie-up with Daimler will play out in shared technology for electric vehicles and other green technology.
The three-way tie-up among Renault, Nissan and Daimler gives each company a 3.1 percent stake in the others, and they have already said they will share engines and other auto parts to bolster model offerings in small cars.
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