Shanghai, May 31 (Gasgoo.com) Japan's third- biggest carmaker Nissan Motor expects its sales in China to increase by about 12% to 850,000 vehicles this year, even as the pace of market growth slows down, Bloomberg reported recently.
Last year, Nissan Motor's China sales rose 39% to 756,000 units. The carmaker boosted sales in China 68% to 243,000 units in the first quarter of this year. Nissan said it made a record 91,798 cars in China in April and forecasts higher profit on its sales growth in China.
At the 2010 Beijing Auto Show in late April, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said the automaker aims to expand its annual production capacity in China to 900,000 units by 2012. The company plans to sell its Leaf electric vehicles in China in 2011 and may eventually build it at a plant in Guangzhou.
Nissan is spending 5 billion yuan ($732 million) to expand its plant in Guangzhou, Guangdong province to build as many as 600,000 vehicles a year by 2012, from 430,000 units currently. It builds models including the Tiida compact and Livina series at the factory.
China's auto sales growth may slow to 10-15% next year as the government may end tax breaks on small cars, but stimulus measures and subsidies will be introduced in the world's largest auto market.
