Nissan has said it will axe 12,500 jobs around the world as part of an effort to reduce costs and promote growth.
In a press call this morning the company said it will axe thousands of jobs, the equivalent of 9% of its workforce, across eight of its factories.
But local unions and business groups are hopeful that the cuts will not drastically affect Nissan's Sunderland plant.
The automotive giant, which has a major factory in Sunderland, said the cuts will reduce its workforce by 9%.
In a statement, Nissan said: "To improve its overall utilization rate, Nissan will reduce its global production capacity by 10% by the end of fiscal year 2022.
"In line with production optimizations, the company will reduce headcount by roughly 12,500.
"Furthermore, the company will reduce the size of its product lineup by at least 10% by the end of fiscal year 2022 in order to improve product competitiveness by focusing investment on global core models and strategic regional models.
"While some of these initiatives are already underway, the company expects that substantial improvements in its performance will take time."
At the moment it is unknown which of the company's sites will be affected. Although president Hiroto Saikawa said that the cuts would mostly affect car plant workers at eight factories.
Mr Saikawa added that 6,400 jobs would be cut by the end of the current fiscal year, with a further 6,100 jobs going by the end of the 2021 financial year.
A spokesman from Nissan's Sunderland plant was unable to comment further on the announcement. However, Nissan Europe is understood to be preparing a follow up announcement and it is expected that Sunderland will be spared from further job losses.
Nissan employs around 7,000 people in the North East.
Commenting on the announcement a spokesman for trade union Unite said: “We don’t believe that today’s global announcement by Nissan will affect the Sunderland plant over and above the headcount reductions announced last year.
"The Sunderland plant is one of the most efficient car plants in the world and we are continuing dialogue with the company about the introduction of new models into the Sunderland Plant.”
Japanese media reported on Wednesday that job were expected after sources said around 10,000 roles would be cut across the business. But Nissan has now confirmed that there will be 2,500 more job cuts than anticipated.
The car maker had already warned that it planned on axing 5,000 roles from its business, but its latest plans sees the company step up its restructuring plans.
Nissan has been suffering over the last 12 months after sales of diesel cars fell around the world and it was dealt a blow when its chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested over financial misconduct claims in Japan.
The company's announcement about job cuts was made today in a third quarter trading update.
The results showed that Nissan's revenue had fallen by 12.7% from 2,716.6bn Yen (£20.15bn) in the first quarter of 2018 to 2,372.4bn Yen (£17.5bn) in 2019.
Operating profit was also hit plummeting 98.5% from 109.1bn Yen (£810m) to just 1.6bn Yen (£12m).
Nissan's Sunderland factory has already suffered in recent years. The largest blow came when it revealed it was no longer going to produce its Infiniti model at the North East plant.
