Two Japanese heavy hitters, Mazda and Nissan, have both confirmed reductions to annual targets due to supply shortages and global inflation.
Mazda Motor Corp executives have confirmed that it will be dropping its financial year international sales target by 133,000 vehicles, or approximately 10%.
The brand says that this change is a result of the semiconductor shortage, as well as a shortage of carrier vessels.
It’s not all doom and gloom for the marque. It has also raised its operating profit outlook by 17% to 140b yen, thanks in part to the weak value of the yen.
Mazda senior managing executive Yasuhiro Aoyama has pointed to the United States as a particularly pivotal market, explaining that a drop-off in its economy is expected later in the year.
“As for the U.S. market from next spring onward, we believe that the economy will gradually slow down,” said Aoyama, Reuters reports.
“As the tight semiconductor market is still continuing, the supply-demand relationship is not likely to loosen so easily.”
At Nissan, meanwhile, it’s production numbers that have been slashed this week.
The production drop focuses on the brand’s American operations and subsequently on American models like the Altima, Titan, and Frontier.
In a memo reportedly issued to Nissan dealers in the US, and published by Reuters, the brand says the production cuts are “due to supply chain disruptions related to ongoing semiconductor chip shortages in the industry”.
The brand adds that “total shipments to retailers are still forecasted to be up quarter over quarter” and “the long-awaited start of sales for the next generation of Nissan EVs will begin before the end of the calendar year”.
