Nissan Considers China Expansion
Nissan Motor Co. said it may boost production capacity in China next fiscal year, depending on market conditions, as it looks to catch up with rising demand in the world's biggest car market.
China is crucial for Nissan's profitability as it looks to bounce back from a slump in demand after the global financial crisis, but its lack of capacity there has hamstrung efforts to keep pace with the nearly 60% growth rate in the country's car market.
'First, we are going to evaluate growth in China this year, and then we will have to take some decisions on capacity,' Nissan President and Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said Thursday at company headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. The company is bullish about China's growth potential in the mid to long term, he said.
Nissan had already decided to boost its annual capacity in China to one million vehicles from 670,000 by the fiscal year ending March 2013.
In its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, Nissan's China sales rose 48% from a year earlier. But that was slower than the 58% growth in the overall market because of Nissan's limited capacity, Mr. Ghosn said.
On Wednesday, Nissan, in which France's Renault SA owns a 43% stake, reported a narrower net loss for its just-ended fiscal fourth quarter and said it expects net profit to more than triple in the current fiscal year. The company is targeting a 14% sales rise in China to help meet its record global sales target of 3.8 million vehicles.
Growth in China and other emerging markets will be the driving force to restore Nissan's profit margin to where it was before the financial crisis, Mr. Ghosn said.
Nissan posted an operating-profit margin of 4.1% in the last fiscal year and expects it to rise to 4.3% this fiscal year. But that is still well below the 7.3% in the fiscal year ended March 2008.
日產(chǎn)汽車(Nissan Motor Co.)說(shuō),下個(gè)財(cái)年可能將根據(jù)市場(chǎng)條件擴(kuò)大在華產(chǎn)能。目前日產(chǎn)正努力趕上世界最大的汽車市場(chǎng)中國(guó)不斷增長(zhǎng)的需求。
日產(chǎn)在全球金融危機(jī)之后正努力從需求銳減中恢復(fù),中國(guó)對(duì)日產(chǎn)的盈利能力來(lái)說(shuō)非常重要,不過(guò)該公司在華產(chǎn)能不足,阻礙了其與中國(guó)汽車市場(chǎng)近60%的增速保持同步的努力。
日產(chǎn)總裁兼首席執(zhí)行長(zhǎng)戈森(Carlos Ghosn)周四在日本橫濱總部說(shuō),首先,我們將評(píng)估中國(guó)今年的增長(zhǎng)情況,然后我們必須就產(chǎn)能作出一些決定。他說(shuō),日產(chǎn)看好中國(guó)中長(zhǎng)期的增長(zhǎng)潛力。
在此之前,日產(chǎn)已經(jīng)決定,在截至2013年3月的財(cái)年前,將把在華年產(chǎn)能從67萬(wàn)輛提高至100萬(wàn)輛。
在截至今年3月31日的第四財(cái)季,日產(chǎn)中國(guó)子公司的汽車銷量較去年同期增長(zhǎng)了48%。不過(guò)戈森說(shuō),由于日產(chǎn)產(chǎn)能有限,這個(gè)增速仍低于58%的總體市場(chǎng)增幅。
日產(chǎn)周三公布說(shuō),第四財(cái)季凈虧損額收窄,并預(yù)計(jì)本財(cái)年凈利潤(rùn)將增長(zhǎng)兩倍以上。日產(chǎn)的目標(biāo)是在華銷量增長(zhǎng)14%,以幫助其實(shí)現(xiàn)380萬(wàn)輛這一創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的全球銷售目標(biāo)。法國(guó)雷諾公司(Renault SA)持有日產(chǎn)43%的股權(quán)。
戈森說(shuō),中國(guó)和其他新興市場(chǎng)的增長(zhǎng)將成為幫助日產(chǎn)利潤(rùn)率恢復(fù)到金融危機(jī)前水平的推動(dòng)力。
上個(gè)財(cái)年,日產(chǎn)公布營(yíng)業(yè)利潤(rùn)率為4.1%,預(yù)計(jì)本財(cái)年將增至4.3%。不過(guò)仍低于截至2008年3月的財(cái)年7.3%的增幅。