Net income fell to 92.3bn yen (£380m) – the third successive quarterly decline. Nissan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn said: “Our results for the first quarter were in line with our expectations, considering factors such as weaker product mix, higher raw material prices and the change in effective tax rates.” Globally, Nissan sold a total of 875,000 vehicles from April to June – a rise of 5.9 per cent but European sales have stalled.

Earlier this month ACEA reported that Nissan's European new car sales in June were down 14.3 per cent year-on-year, despite a reinvigorated model line up. The carmaker is in the process of launching 11 new products globally, which include the Qashqai and X-Trail that launched earlier this year.