Nissan to build 2nd China plant for trucks, SUVs

Japan's third-largest automaker by sales Nissan Motor Co. will invest about 10 billion yen ($95.8 million) in constructing a plant in China to raise output capacity for small commercial vehicles, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday without citing sources.

The new factory, to be built adjacent to Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile Co.'s existing plant in Henan Province, is expected to come on-stream in 2010, the report said.

Zhengzhou Nissan, a subsidiary of a Nissan-Dongfeng Motor Corp. joint venture, mainly produces mainly pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Its existing plant is already running at full capacity, turning out around 60,000 vehicles a year, the Nikkei said.

The new plant will bring total capacity to 160,000 vehicles by 2012, it said.