Nissan mulling boosting car production in China
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-29 09:18

Japanese car maker Nissan is mulling boosting its production capacity in China to catch up with its domestic rivals in the fast-growing market, a press report said.

"We are considering expanding plants," Nissan Motor Co. chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga was quoted as saying in an interview with the leading business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Shiga declined to give details but the daily said Nissan was expected to construct another line at the Guangzhou plant as early as 2008.

"We will make an announcement soon or later," Shiga said.

The overall investment is estimated at 30-40 billion yen (280-370 million dollars), the report said.

This would lift the total annual output capacity of Nissan's Chinese sites to between 400,000 and 500,000 units, it said. Nissan, the number two Japanese car maker, has its production in China totaled 71,610 units in the year to March 2005.

The group built a plant with an annual output capacity of 150,000 vehicles in Guangzhou, southern Guangdong province, last May.

From this factory and its one in Hubei province, Nissan plans to manufacture and sell 300,000 vehicles in China in 2007, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun report said.

Honda Motor Co. has set its production in Chiha for 2006 at 530,000 units. Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's largest automaker, plans to build a third plant in Tianjin in 2007 or later to double its Chinese output to about 500,000 units a year, the daily said.

While Nissan has lagged behind its rivals in building factories in China, it has bolstered its presence there by introducing mainline models such as the Tiana sedan and Tiida subcompact since last year, the report said.

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