Nissan Is Back In Profit After Two Years In The Red

A More Positive Outlook

Not that long ago, pundits were just about ready to prepare Nissan‘s grave. With shocking losses, dismal sales, and a failed ‘partnership’ with Honda, one could say at the time that Nissan was in its eleventh hour. About a month ago, there were even investors allegedly wanting Carlos Ghosn back behind the wheel of the company.

But in all fairness to current CEO Ivan Espinosa’s term, Nissan’s recovery is moving at a strong pace. Last time out, the executive said that the Re:Nissan plan is ahead of schedule, although some painful decisions had to be made. Nonetheless, despite the loss of $3.4 billion during the previous financial year, the fruits of everyone’s labor within the company are starting to pay off.

Back in the Black

During the first-quarter report for financial year 2026-2027, Nissan actually posted profits. It’s a remarkable achievement, especially since it’s been two long years since the Japanese automaker was in the black. Considering Nissan had been under Espinosa’s leadership for just a little over a year, it’s looking more and more like he was the man for the job after all.

Put this year’s first quarter results for FY ’26-’27 beside the same figures last year, and it’s like Nissan wasn’t bleeding money. In Q1 FY25-26, Nissan posted operating losses of 79.1 billion yen (-$502 million), and net income crashed by 115.8 billion yen (-$734.4 million). This time around, it gained 77.9 billion yen (+$492.2 million) in operating profit, and net income is up by 3.8 billion yen (+$24.1 million).

To further emphasize how much ground the company made up, here’s how much it gained in the span of a year. Nissan managed to gain 157 billion yen ($996.2 million) in operating profit and 119.5 billion yen ($758.2 million) in net income. That is, by all means, a Herculean effort from the brand considering it still had to pay a fair bit of tariffs.

Still a Long Way to Go

Admittedly, though, it’s not all great news for Nissan. Global sales and deliveries are still down as a whole, and the company needs to address that as soon as possible. There’s also the matter of Chinese automakers eroding the market share of legacy automakers, tariffs, and the Iran conflict. More recently, the Kumamoto earthquake in Kyushu, Japan may force the company to, at the very least, slow down production in its facility in the prefecture.

Still, the outlook is looking more and more positive, and the even harder work begins now. Nissan is banking on the North American market to help in its growth, along with the launches of new and redesigned models. Infiniti, its luxury division, is finally getting more attention as well. The company is doing what it can to match ‘China Speed’ by using greater AI assistance in vehicle development. The good news is that U.S. sales and production are up, but the rest of the world has to follow if it wants to sustain profitability.