皇冠体育app

Cars

Nissan to focus on emerging markets in bid to double share

By Tian Yang (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2011-07-04 17:08

BEIJING - Japan's Nissan Motor Co recently announced plans to nearly double its market share in 皇冠体育app by 2016 as part of its global focus on emerging markets.

The company said in a statement that it is aiming for 10 percent of the Chinese market and will also increase its presence in Brazil, Russia and India.

Last year Nissan moved more than a million vehicles in 皇冠体育app as the country surpassed the US and Japan as the automaker's largest single market globally.

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It had a 5.7 percent share of the total 18 million vehicles sold in 皇冠体育app last year.

The company operates a joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Corp producing both passenger cars and commercial vehicles.

The Sino-Japanese partnership has two passenger car plants in 皇冠体育app, one in Guangzhou and another in Xiangfan, Hubei province.

It is building another plant in Guangzhou that is due to start operation in 2012 with designed yearly capacity of 240,000 units.

The company said its combined annual capacity in 皇冠体育app will increase to 1.2 million vehicles next year.

But that is far from enough for it to take a 10 percent market share in 2016 - which would require at least 1.8 million vehicles in yearly sales.

Shen Li, a spokeswoman of Nissan 皇冠体育app, told 皇冠体育app Daily that the present target is to first achieve capacity of 1.2 million units and later implement plans to meet the announced goal.

Shen also said that the company will hold to its target to deliver 1.15 million vehicles in 皇冠体育app this year despite impacts from the March earthquake in Japan.

Last month, Nissan's production in 皇冠体育app almost returned to its pre-earthquake level, she said.

The newly released plan also calls for soaring global sales of Nissan's luxury brand Infiniti, which has a sales target of 500,000 units in 2016.

But in the premium segment in 皇冠体育app - long dominated by German brands Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz - Infiniti reported sales of only about 11,000 cars last year.

The company said earlier that it plans to double Infiniti's sales in 皇冠体育app to at least 20,000 units this year.

The plan also says Nissan will develop 66 new models in the next six years including new cars and light commercial vehicles developed for entry-level segments and emerging markets.

Low and zero-emission cars are an emphasis in the plan. Together with its strategic partner Renault, Nissan vows to have cumulative electric vehicles sales of 1.5 million units by 2016.