The president of Dongfeng Motor Co., a joint venture in China between Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. and China's Dongfeng group, expressed a desire Friday to produce electric vehicles there.
"We'd like to make (the vehicle) locally as early as possible," Dongfeng Motor President Kimiyasu Nakamura said in an interview in Yokohama with Kyodo News, referring to the Leaf electric vehicle that is planned to be launched in China next year.
Dongfeng Motor is Nissan's 50-50 venture with the Dongfeng group.
While hinting at a possibility of teaming up with a Chinese parts maker if the company starts producing the car in China, Nakamura avoided specifying any timing that the automaker would start production.
"We'd like to study (the timing) by looking into sales volume and government measures to boost car purchases," Nakamura said.
Meanwhile, Nakamura said new car sales in China are likely to top 15 million vehicles this year, and added the automaker aims to achieve a 2010 sales target of 1 million units by November.
