Japanese automaker Nissan intends to hire about 2,000 workers at its factory near Bangkok, Thailand, as part of a global restructuring plan to boost the facility’s output.
Carlos Ghosn, the company’s ex-chairman, previously raised Nissan’s production capacity, but that also caused fixed costs to increase and, it’s believed, contributed to its $6.4bn lost for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021.
Nissan currently operates a couple of plants in Thailand, the last of which was built in 2012, and expected to increase production capacity to 370,000 units in a year. However, the factories only managed to peak at 167,000 units annually, necessitating the need for additional workers. The company believes that by hiring more skilled labor, the plants will finally reach their production capacity in the coming years.
The Thai plants are also capable of producing electric vehicles, which are surging in popularity across the globe.
In order to free up funds, Nissan shut down its Indonesian plant in May, leading to a capacity loss of of 260,000 units. However, the plant had already been idled since January because of sluggish local sales and machinery incapable of manufacturing EVs.