Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third- largest automaker, may ask the government for low-interest loans as vehicle sales and earnings plummet.

The Nikkei reported today the carmaker would ask for 50 billion yen ($550 million) in loans, citing an unidentified Nissan executive. Tadashi Okamura, a spokesman for the automaker, declined to deny the report.

“We have always considered various ways of raising capital,” he said.

Nissan’s U.S. sales tumbled 30 percent last month as the recession and rising job concerns hammered demand for new vehicles. The automaker has said it may lower its annual earnings forecast and Moody’s Investors Service is also reviewing the carmaker’s debt rating for a possible downgrade.

“It’s been getting tougher to raise money,” Koji Endo, a Credit Suisse Group AG analyst in Tokyo, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “Most Japanese carmakers have been facing an extremely tough time in their earnings outlook and next year is expected to get even worse.”

Moody’s said on Jan. 14 it may cut Nissan’s A3 credit rating, the fourth-lowest investment grade. A lower debt rating would raise borrowing costs for the automaker.

In October, Nissan forecast an operating profit of 270 billion yen for the year ending March 31. The carmaker reports third-quarter results on Monday.

Nissan’s sales in the U.S., the world’s largest auto market, dropped 11 percent in 2008. The carmaker and other Japanese automakers are also suffering from the yen’s 24 percent gain against the dollar last year, which reduces the value of overseas sales.

Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said last month they had applied for subsidies from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to help pay wages, as they curb domestic production.

To contact the reporter on this story: Makiko Kitamura in Tokyo at mkitamura1@bloomberg.net; Tetsuya Komatsu in Tokyo at tekomatsu@bloomberg.net