Thousands of workers at Nissan’s plant in Sunderland are facing uncertainty after the Japanese car giant announced plans to scale back production and axe 9,000 jobs globally.

The company on Thursday warned it was facing “a severe situation” after reducing its annual forecast for operating profits from 500bn yen (£2.5bn) to just 150bn yen.

Nissan said it would not pay a dividend and was instead prioritising financial discipline to “create a leaner, more resilient business capable of swiftly adapting to changes in the market”.

This will involve reducing production by 20pc and removing 9,000 workers, equivalent to about 7pc of the company’s 133,000-strong operations, it said.

Makoto Uchida, Nissan’s chief executive, is also voluntarily giving up half of his monthly pay from this month onwards.

Nissan currently employs around 6,000 people in the UK, where it makes the Qashqai and Juke SUVs, as well as the electric Leaf.

It was not immediately clear what impact the cuts would have on the company’s British business.