Photo/Illutration Nissan Motor Corp.’s logo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Nissan Motor Corp. will end production of the Nissan AD commercial van this year, as manufacturing sites are expected to account for more than 70 percent of the automaker’s 9,000 job cuts worldwide.

Around 6,700 employees in direct divisions, including production, will be let go, while 2,300 in indirect divisions, such as clerical work, will lose their jobs, according to sources.

In their talks on management integration, Honda Motor Co. has required struggling Nissan to turn around its business, including implementing the layoffs.

Nissan on Nov. 7 last year announced it would slash 9,000 jobs and reduce its production capacity by 20 percent, after its profits plunged 90 percent from a year earlier in the six months through September.

The company has gradually been proceeding with its reduction plans in the United States and Thailand.

In December, the automaker announced it had entered management integration talks with Honda.

At a news conference on Dec. 23, Honda President Toshihiro Mibe said Nissan’s restructuring measures were an absolute condition for the integration.

Nissan has informed its suppliers of its policy to terminate AD production in November as part of its streamlining efforts.

“We made the decision after considering changes in the market environment and trends in demand,” the official in charge of the AD project said.

The AD was launched in 1982. About 400,000 units of the current model have been sold.

The van is produced at subsidiary Nissan Shatai Co.’s Shonan Plant in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.

In recent years, AD sales have been declining due to competition mainly with Toyota Motor Corp.’s ProBox commercial van.

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