26 July 2012, Japan’s Nissan Motor has reported an increase in sales for the April to June quarter, but decreased profits.

Nissan officials said sales were up in China and North America, but, because of the rising value of the Japanese yen, and increasingly stiff competition, the overall profits fell 19.7%.  Their profit was still a hefty $1.5 billion USD (oh those greedy stockholders)!

Nissan said the only way they can keep profits up is to send more of their Japanese production to other countries, and use parts made in countries where the money is worth less than the yen.  Of course, this means more job losses in Japan!

U.S. based Ford also reported down profits, by 57%!  Ford, a much bigger company than Nissan, made about the same profit as their Japanese competitor, but Ford’s profit loss is tied directly to decreased sales worldwide.

Officials with Ford said they lost money big time in Europe, where the iconic car company saw a 15% drop in sales, losing more than $400 million USD.  They also lost sales in Asia, and profits were down in South America.

Ford expects that by the end of the year they will lose more than $1 billion USD because of the European crisis!