YOKOHAMA, Japan – Nissan's credit rating was raised a notch by Moody's Investors Service late last week, a rarity for Japanese manufacturers given the strong yen, while global economic difficulties, such as those in the euro zone, remain a headwind for automakers.
Corporate Vice President, Joji Tagawa, responsible for investor relations, joined the Global Media Center's Dan Sloan to discuss the implications of the ratings boost.
Q1. What has been the response from investors and rating agencies on the Moody's upgrade and what does it mean for Nissan?
CVP Tagawa: This is great news for us given that many countries and corporations are either being downgraded or in the direction for a potential downward revision of their credit rating. In this environment, an upgrade is absolutely exceptional and excellent news.
From the investment community standpoint, a credit rating is something representative of the brand, so we hope that this upgrade will contribute to the improvement of the Nissan brand as well.
Q2. With this upgrade, Nissan is now rated A3 by Moody's, up from Baa1. How do you interpret that and the environment surrounding Nissan now?
CVP Tagawa: This is one of the good steps in the given environment that we spoke of, and I believe that we have the potential to be further upgraded, either one or two notches for some of the rating agencies. The team will continue to work on further upgrades in the future.
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