In April 2025, Japanese automaker Nissan fell from the list of the world’s top 10 best-selling automakers for the first time in 16 years. According to data from research firm MarketLines, sales in the first half of 2025 fell by 6 percent to 1.61 million units. This decline also highlighted the company’s financial losses and sales losses in major markets.

Nissan Sales Decline

Nissan’s sales decline has pushed it behind both market leaders Toyota and Volkswagen, as well as fast-rising Chinese brands BYD and Geely. BYD entered the list in eighth place with a 33 percent sales increase. Suzuki also surpassed Nissan with 1.63 million sales. Despite a 20,000-vehicle difference between the two brands, this is the first time Suzuki has surpassed Nissan since 2004.

Financial difficulties also confirm Nissan’s problems. The company reported a loss of approximately $105 million for the April-June period. This was its fourth consecutive quarterly loss. A year earlier, it had made a profit of approximately $191 million in the same period.

Nissan suffered particularly significant losses in its two largest markets. While sales remained weak in the US, the situation was even worse in China. Sales in China, the company’s largest market, fell 18 percent to 270,000 units in the first half of the year.

This figure represents a significant loss compared to Nissan’s 2018 sales of 720,000 units. In Japan, the company’s home market, sales also fell 10 percent to 220,000 units. This was the brand’s lowest sales figure in Japan since 1993.