Cars

Nissan to expand capacity in China

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-06-28 13:19

Nissan Motor Co plans to boost production capacity in China by as much as 600,000 vehicles over the next six years as Japan's second-largest automaker expands in the world's biggest auto market.

China and North America are also the "two main contenders" as possible locations for a plant to produce Nissan's luxury Infiniti brand vehicles, Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said in an interview in Yokohama yesterday.

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"We are envisioning breaking the monopoly of Infiniti being made in Japan," Ghosn said. "Infiniti is going to grow, and we cannot depend on one currency for a brand that is global."

The automaker plans to boost sales in emerging economies and to capture a larger share of the high-margin luxury-car market as growth slows in Japan. Nissan aims to increase its share of the global car market to 8 percent over the next six years from 5.8 percent last fiscal year as the company expands in fast-growing markets such as China, it said in a midterm plan yesterday.

Nissan is targeting a 10 percent share of the Chinese market by fiscal 2016, compared with 6.2 percent now, it said.

The automaker's new plant in Brazil, which will have capacity to build 200,000 vehicles a year, is expected to begin production by the end of 2013, Ghosn said. The carmaker aims to expand its market share in the South American nation to 5 percent from 1.2 percent now.