TOKYO, May 13, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Nissan shares surged as much as 5.5 percent in early trade on Tuesday after reports said the struggling Japanese carmaker plans to cut 10,000 more jobs in a bid to revive its business.

The heavily indebted company, one of the top 10 automakers by unit sales, is expected to log a record annual loss of around $5 billion later in the day.

Nissan, whose mooted merger with Honda collapsed earlier this year, has declined to comment on the job cut reports published Monday in local media including public broadcaster NHK.

The reports said the firm is now aiming to reduce its total workforce by approximately 15 percent, having announced in November that it would slash 9,000 positions.

Like many peers, Nissan is finding it difficult to compete against Chinese electric vehicle brands, while its profits are also under threat from US trade tariffs.

The possible merger with Japanese rival Honda had been seen as a potential lifeline.

But talks crashed in February after Honda proposed making Nissan a subsidiary instead of integrating under a holding firm.

Then last month Nissan issued a stark profit warning, saying it expected an annual net loss of 700-750 billion yen ($4.8-$5.1 billion) for the 2024-25 financial year.

Its previous worst full-year net loss was 684 billion yen in 1999-2000, during a financial crisis that birthed its rocky partnership with French automaker Renault.

Nissan has faced other speed bumps -- including the 2018 arrest of former boss Carlos Ghosn, who later fled Japan concealed in an audio equipment box.

The automaker, whose shares have tanked nearly 40 percent over the past year, appointed a new CEO in March.

Ratings agencies have downgraded the firm to junk, with Moody's citing its "weak profitability" and "ageing model portfolio".

And this month Nissan shelved plans, only recently agreed, to build a $1-billion battery plant in southern Japan owing to the tough "business environment".

An additional headwind is the 25-percent tariff imposed by President Donald Trump on all imported vehicles into the United States.

Of all Japan's major automakers, Nissan is likely to be the most severely impacted, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tatsuo Yoshida told AFP ahead of Tuesday's earnings report.

Its clientele has historically been more price-sensitive than that of its rivals, he said.

So the company "can't pass the costs on to consumers to the same extent as Toyota or Honda without suffering a significant loss in sales units", he added.