Japanese carmaker Nissan plans to increase its vehicle production capacity in China by 30pc by March 2021. The company aims to make-up for the global shortfall in sales by banking on the demand recovery in China, according to Japanese local media. Production will be ramped to 1.8mn cars from 1.4mn annually.
Nissan will ramp up its output with new production lines at two locations in China. Nissan has a joint venture with China-based Dongfeng Group and plans to expand production capacity at Wuhan in Hubei province and Changzhou in Jiangsu Province. With this, the company’s production bases in China will increase to six from four. Nissan also plans new launches in China to boost sales.
Earlier, the company announced a plan to increase production in Thailand reported Davis Index. Nissan has also closed a factory in Indonesia in May. The Thai plant expansion is to augments the facility has the company’s Asean production base.
In China, the gradual rise in demand for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles lifted Nissan’s September sales by 5.1pc to 141,595 units from the prior September. From Jan-Sep, the company’s cumulative sales in China dipped by 9.7pc to 985,474 units from the prior year, but the gap between yearly sales volume has narrowed.
Globally, according the company’s latest data, Nissan’s August retail sales fell by 23.3pc to 327,297 units from a year ago. The biggest drop in sales was registered in the US, down by 41.3pc with 74,644 units sold, followed by Japan and Mexico down by 26.4pc and 26.5pc, respectively. While the drop in China was only 2.4pc from August 2019.
The company’s global production in August declined by 25.1pc to 304,739 units from a year ago. The steepest reduction in output was in Spain down by 99.4pc as the company closed its plant in Barcelona, Spain as it downsizes operations in Europe. In August, auto production in Japan and the US was down by 47.1pc and 45.3pc from a year ago in line with weak demand.