Nissan targets 2 million light vehicle sales in China by 2015
Infiniti assembly starts in 2014 while a new car plant in Dalian adds capacity
2013/04/16
- Summary
- Reorganization of joint venture business in China: Concentration on light vehicles, and to strengthen high-end models including the Infiniti
- Preparation of a production structure after reorganization: Enhancing plants in Southern and Central China and building a new plant in Dalian in Northeastern China
- Nissan's group company, Renault's business in China to build a joint venture plant with DFM
- (Reference) Nissan's passenger car sales and targets in China
- Production Forecast by LMC Automotive: Nissan light vehicle production forecast by country
Summary
In January 2013, Nissan announced its plan to separate the medium-duty and heavy-duty commercial vehicle division of DFL, its joint venture in China, in order to concentrate DFL's operations in the light vehicle business including passenger cars and LCVs. (light-duty commercial vehicles).
In March 2013, Nissan also announced that it would maintain DFL's 2015 sales target of more than 2 million light-duty vehicles (including imports), which Nissan had announced in its medium-term management plan. Nissan also announced that it would start local production of Infiniti high-end models in 2014. Nissan resumed imports and sales of Nissan models at the end of 2011, which was mostly discontinued in 2007, aiming to boosting its marketshare in China through a synergistic effect of import, sales and local production of various models including the high-end.
In order to achieve its 2015 sales target of more than 2 million light vehicles in China, Nissan says that it will expand its existing plants, construct a new joint venture plant and boost production capacity from about 1.38 million units in March 2013 to 1.98 million by 2014, and further to 2.1 million units.
Concerning powertrains, Nissan announced its target to boost production capacity to more than 1.9 million units by 2015. This includes 1.6 million units from Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle, which is DFL's passenger car division, and 300,000 units or more (including medium-/heavy-duty models) from Dongfeng Automobile. Nissan is currently constructing a fuel efficient manual transmission plant in Guangzhou (Huadu District), Guangdong province slated for completion in 2013.
Nissan's partner, Renault, reached an agreement with DFM on the construction of a passenger car plant that is capable of producing 300,000 units a year (1st-stage 150,000 units) in Wuhan, Hubei province. Renault aims to start operations in the second half of 2015 or later, currently awaiting the government's approval.
According to LMC Automotive Forecast in January 2013, Nissan light vehicle sales in China will decrease by 5% to about 728,000 units in 2013. The British research company predicts that " In China, anti- Japanese sentiment had a negative effect on the Nissan brand's sales in 2012, and this trend will continue into 2013. We expect this problem to be eased after 2014, when the group's sales will again start growing"
Related Reports: Chinese OEM sales outlook 2013 (Mar. 2013)
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