Shanghai, March 16 (Gasgoo.com) Nissan Motor announced yesterday that it will open a car design center in Beijing early next year to develop vehicles that cater to the needs of consumers in China and other rapidly growing Asian markets, Japan Today reported.
The new studio, the first China-based facility of its kind to be built by a Japanese carmaker, will be located in the Chaoyang district of Beijing, where automotive design activities are brisk, the Japanese car company said. The new design center is scheduled to open early in 2011.
Nissan Motor will invest 11.76 million yuan ($1.72 mln, or 156 million yen) to establish the Chinese design studio and will hire about 20 designers to work there. Nissan currently has two design centers in Japan (Atsugi and Harajuku) and one each in Britain (London) and the United States (San Diego, Calif.).
"With the addition of 20 designers, Nissan's new studio will enhance our design capabilities, as well as our product competitiveness in China and Asia where the automotive industry continues to see robust growth," said Shiro Nakamura, chief creative officer and senior vice president of design and brand.
Nissan Motor, whose China sales last year rose 48% to a record 518,968 units, will raise its annual local production capacity from current 875,000 units to more than 1 million this year by launching a second factory in Zhengzhou and increase capacity at a plant in Guangzhou.
