Reuters
Yokohama
Nissan Motor Co will be able to meet its goal of taking 10% of the US market in two years without any major new investments and by making use of capacity available at factories in Japan and South Korea, a top executive said.
With sales in the US growing at nearly twice the pace of the overall market last year, Japan’s No 2 automaker has been expanding capacity at its North American plants but needs more to meet demand.
“The key word is flexibility,” Jose Munoz, executive vice president at Nissan and chairman of its North American arm, told reporters at Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama.
“I can’t (give) you concrete numbers now but we have already started to work on how we can capitalise on the available capacity in Japan for North America.”
Earlier this month, Nissan announced plans to tap alliance partner Renault SA’s joint venture plant in South Korea to export more Rogue crossovers to the US.
With recent and upcoming model launches in the US such as the Murano sport-utility vehicle, Maxima sedan and Titan pickup truck, Munoz said Nissan has “never been as confident as we are today” over its prospects in the US, its biggest market.
The Tennessee-based Spaniard also said there was no reason for Nissan to lag rival Honda Motor Co in the US given its broader product range that includes a full-sized pickup truck and a bigger manufacturing footprint in North America.
Munoz noted that Nissan is closing the gap with Honda also in key product segments where the latter has traditionally dominated with Toyota Motor Corp, thanks to brisk sales of the Altima and Sentra sedans.
“I’m confident we will overtake them,” he said, declining to estimate a time frame.
Nissan took 8.4% of the US market in 2014, inching closer to its 10% goal for the business year to March 2017.
But brisk sales have been driven partly by generous discounts and low-profit deliveries to fleet customers - both of which Munoz said Nissan was successfully beginning to rein in.
Shares in Nissan have risen nearly 20% since the company announced third-quarter results earlier this month, partly on hopes for improved profitability in North America. The stock was down 1% midday on Friday, after hitting a more than seven-year high a day earlier.
Japan’s No 2 automaker Nissan took 8.4% of the US market in 2014, inching closer to its 10% goal for the financial year to March 2017.
