Tokyo - Nissan Motor Co suffered a net loss of 16.5 billion yen (170 million dollars) in the April-June quarter, a turnaround from a profit of 52.8 billion yen during the same period a year earlier, the firm said Wednesday.

Operating profit plunged 85.5 per cent to 11.6 billion yen and sales fell 35.5 per cent to 1.51 trillion yen in the three-month period.

Nissan sold 723,000 units worldwide in the first quarter, down 22.8 per cent from the year before.

Although vehicle sales in other countries declined, sales in China continued to grow. Sales in China rose by 9.3 per cent in the April-June period to 145,000 units compared to the previous year.

Nissan attributed the losses to the global financial and economic crisis as well as a stronger yen.

But Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn maintained a positive attitude and hopes to pull the third-largest Japanese carmaker out of the doldrums with the plan to mass-market new all-electric vehicles.

"Despite the global financial and economic crisis, Nissan is poised to embark on a new chapter of growth and innovation," Ghosn said at a press conference. "2009 continues to be a tough year, but we are beginning to see positive results from the measures taken under our Recovery Plan. We are on track towards positive free cash flow for fiscal 2009 and will remain cautious in our outlook for the rest of the year."

Nissan maintained its full-year forecast unchanged with an operating loss of 100 billion yen and a net loss of 170 billion yen. (dpa)