TOKYO - NISSAN Motor expects 'zero' profits in the second half of this financial year as the global economic crisis deepens, its chief executive Carlos Ghosn said in an interview published on Wednesday.

'We have to recognise 2009 will be one of the most challenging years for our industry and the whole economy in the last 50 years', he told the Wall Street Journal.

'I don't think anybody would be expecting peak performance', added Mr Ghosn, who also heads Nissan's French partner Renault.

Renault's operating-profit margins for this year will be about 2.5 per cent, well short of earlier goals, he was quoted as saying.

Nissan, Japan's third-biggest automaker, said last month its first-half net profits plunged 40.5 per cent to 126.34 billion yen (S$1.98).

At that time it predicted a 33.7 billion yen profit for the second half of the financial year to March.

The global slowdown has badly shaken Japan's automakers, which in recent years have cashed in on worldwide demand for their cars.

Fears are also mounting of a collapse of the 'Big Three' US automakers, who are pleading for urgent government aid.

General Motors boss Rick Wagoner warned the US economy will face a 'catastrophic collapse' if Washington does not bail out the auto industry. -- AFP