Nissan Motor says it’s cutting up to 700 contract workers at its Mississippi assembly plant, citing slow sales for Titan pickup trucks and vans.
The company employs 6,400 employees and contractors in Canton, Mississippi.
The move follows Nissan’s December announcement that it’s cutting 1,000 jobs at two Mexican factories.
Reports in May indicated the Japanese automaker would cut production by up to 20 percent in North America, citing low profits.
Thursday’s move comes after the arrest in Japan of former chairman Carlos Ghosn, who led a production expansion in Nissan’s largest market. Spokeswoman Lloryn Love-Carter says the cuts are unrelated to Ghosn’s troubles.
Love-Carter says some jobs will be cut by attrition at Nissan’s engine factory in Decherd, Tennessee, but that Thursday’s announcement doesn’t affect its Smyrna, Tennessee, factory.
