Nissan to lift '09 China sales 4.6% to 570,000 units

Shanghai, February 12 (Gasgoo.com) Nissan Motor Co, Japan's third-largest carmaker, said today it aimed to boost its Nissan-brand vehicle sales in China by 4.6% from last year to 570,000 units in 2009, finance.baidu.com said today.

The sales growth is to slow from last year. Nissan's sales in China grew 19% in 2008 to 545,000 units, much above a 7.4% rise in China's overall passenger car market. Sales rose as Nissan introduced seven new models in China in 2008, including the Teana sedan and three Infiniti-brand models. Still, Nissan expects its first loss in nine years as sales plunge in the U.S. (its biggest market), Europe and Japan.

Dongfeng Nissan, a 50-50 joint venture between Nissan Motor Co. with Dongfeng Motor Group, sold 708,000 vehicles (including passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and medium- and heavy-duty trucks) last year, up 16% from 2007.

The JV, also called Dongfeng Motor Co., has an annual sales target of 1 million vehicles by 2012 with sales revenue projected to hit 100 billion yuan ($14.6 bln), up from 59.32 billion yuan in 2007, as part of a 5-year business plan that began last year.

China vehicle sales may climb about 5% this year, the slowest pace since 1998, as forecasted by an industry association. Chinese car sales in January 2009 fell 8% year on year but improved from the previous month, bolstered by government incentives.