Nissan to boost China production by 30%
Nissan has earmarked $900M for increasing their production capacity in China. They plan a new factory in Wuhan together with JV partner Dongfeng. Also existing facilities are to be expanded. Nissan is looking to grow their China business by 30%, including new energy vehicles.
Nissan are not the only carmaker pumping substantial sums into the People’s Republic. In fact they join Toyota in this endeavour. Nissan however is investing over three times more than Toyota.
The increases will make Nissan the first Japanese automaker whose annual capacity surpasses 2 million units in China. Only Volkswagen will be much bigger, given they are gearing up with FAW to double their electric vehicle production facility in Foshan alone reportedly.
For Nissan, talks with their partner Dongfeng over the construction of the new facility in Wuhan are as good as final. The plant, which will be Nissan’s ninth such factory in China, targets a production capacity of 200,000 to 300,000 cars a year.
Moreover, the Dongfeng plant in Changzhou, and a commercial vehicle plant in the city of Zhengzhou will receive upgrades. Both will then have a capacity larger than 100,000 vehicles.
Nissan plans to use the additional capacity to increase production electric vehicles as well in order to prepare for Beijing’s new energy vehicle policies. These will come into effect by 2019.
Accordingly, the Nissan and Dongfeng joint venture recently issued a green roadmap, which contains plans to develop and launch 20 new electrified vehicles by 2022. Some will be fully electric, while some will take advantage of Nissans e-Power technology. The companies plan to make 30% of their profits by 2022 from these electrified models across their four brands.
The Sylphy has made the beginning and is selling well. The electric car was developed in cooperation with Dongfeng and is the first electric vehicle from Nissan available in China. The basic price after subventions is at 166,000 Yuan, or 22,000 euro.
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