A brand new Nissan car is displayed on the sales lot at Golden State Nissan on March 26, 2025 in Colma, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Nissan Motor shares tumbled on Tuesday after Mercedes-Benz announced plans to offload its 3.8% holding in the Japanese automaker.
Tokyo-listed shares of Nissan declined as much as 6.7% before paring some losses to trade 6% lower.
Mercedes-Benz’s pension trust will divest its stake worth roughly $346 million in Nissan Motor, a company spokesperson reportedly said on Monday.
The spokesperson added that Nissan holdings, which were moved into pension assets in 2016, were not strategically significant while framing the sale of the remaining 3.8% stake as part of a portfolio cleanup. Nissan stake makes up 2.7% of the company’s total holdings, with Diamler Truck constituting nearly 93%.
Mercedes-Benz is Nissan’s second-largest shareholder after Renault — 35.7% stake — LSEG data showed.
The move puts further strain on the Japanese automaker’s stock that has been under pressure from U.S. tariffs, declining sales and the transition to electric vehicles amid steep global competition, in particular from Chinese rivals.
Late last year, the firm entered short-lived discussions with Honda over a possible partnership that would have formed the world’s third-biggest carmaker, but negotiations fell apart in February.
In May, the company announced plans to slash 11,000 jobs and shut down seven plants. Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa said in June that the company’s short-term focus was to fix the struggling automaker as it undergoes major restructuring.
In July, U.S. auto tariffs were lowered to 15% from the previously announced 25% in some relief for Japanese automakers including Nissan. The original 25% tariff was halved to 12.5%, before adding a 2.5% “Most Favored Nation” base tariff, taking the total to 15%.
Nissan shares have declined more than 29% so far this year.