Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Nissan Motor Co. is chopping its California-based advanced planning team to 9 positions from 19, possibly paring its ability to create models for the U.S., while Mazda Motor Corp. said it’s eliminating 110 jobs in the market.

Nissan’s cutback of the Los Angeles group, which conceives cars and trucks that may not reach dealers for more than a decade, makes developing new models more difficult, said Ed Kim, an industry analyst at AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, California.

“By cutting in half that creative brainpower, they’re losing some creative insight,” said Kim, a former advanced product planner for Hyundai Motor Co.’s U.S. unit. Nissan confirmed the reduction today.

The move follows Nissan’s announcement in January that it will close a design studio at its Farmington Hills, Michigan, engineering center. On Feb. 9 in Japan, the company said it would cut 20,000 jobs worldwide because of the sales slump, following plans to shed 110 U.S. sales, marketing and design positions.

Mazda, a Ford Motor Co. affiliate, is eliminating the jobs across its U.S. operations, spokesman Jeremy Barnes said in an interview. The Hiroshima, Japan-based automaker’s plan was reported earlier today by trade publication Automotive News.

“We’re doing what we need to do to remain competitive in the current environment,” said Barnes, who is based at Mazda’s North American headquarters in Irvine, California.

Some Production to Mexico

Nissan’s reduction at the advanced product planning group is part of the Tokyo-based automaker’s global reorganization, spokesman Fred Standish said. The company is trimming some North American vehicle output to adjust to plunging U.S. sales. Nissan this week also said it will shift production of some small cars to Mexico from Japan to counter the yen’s rise against the dollar.

“There’s a restructuring going on and we’re looking at where are the needs for global advanced product planning,” said Standish, who is based at Nissan’s U.S. headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee. “This shouldn’t be interpreted as lessening of the importance of the North American market.”

Nissan’s January U.S. auto sales tumbled 30 percent, after an 11 percent decline for all of last year.

Concept Vehicles

John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Corp., didn’t immediately have details on the size of Toyota’s U.S. advanced planning team at its offices in Torrance, California. Likewise, Honda Motor Co.’s Christina Ra wasn’t able to give details of Tokyo-based Honda’s U.S. development group, also in Torrance.

“The danger of times like these, when everyone is in crisis mode, is it’s very easy to shift your focus to immediate needs and very easy to forget how important long-range planning is,” Kim said.

Nissan kept the advanced planners in Los Angeles after the company moved its North American headquarters to Tennessee in 2006 from California. They develop ideas for vehicles that may be needed more than a decade later, Kim said. Those concepts then go to designers and engineers before landing on dealer lots.

The automaker has said it expects an operating loss of 180 billion yen ($1.91 billion) for the fiscal year ending in March.

Nissan’s American depositary receipts fell 15 cents to $5.96 at 5:19 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, and have declined 18 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 20, 2009 19:21 EST