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.

日产汽车(Nissan Motor Co.)说，下个财年可能将根据市场条件扩大在华产能。目前日产正努力赶上世界最大的汽车市场中国不断增长的需求。
日产在全球金融危机之后正努力从需求锐减中恢复，中国对日产的盈利能力来说非常重要，不过该公司在华产能不足，阻碍了其与中国汽车市场近60%的增速保持同步的努力。

日产总裁兼首席执行长戈森(Carlos Ghosn)周四在日本横滨总部说，首先，我们将评估中国今年的增长情况，然后我们必须就产能作出一些决定。他说，日产看好中国中长期的增长潜力。

在此之前，日产已经决定，在截至2013年3月的财年前，将把在华年产能从67万辆提高至100万辆。

在截至今年3月31日的第四财季，日产中国子公司的汽车销量较去年同期增长了48%。不过戈森说，由于日产产能有限，这个增速仍低于58%的总体市场增幅。

日产周三公布说，第四财季净亏损额收窄，并预计本财年净利润将增长两倍以上。日产的目标是在华销量增长14%，以帮助其实现380万辆这一创纪录的全球销售目标。法国雷诺公司(Renault SA)持有日产43%的股权。

戈森说，中国和其他新兴市场的增长将成为帮助日产利润率恢复到金融危机前水平的推动力。

上个财年，日产公布营业利润率为4.1%，预计本财年将增至4.3%。不过仍低于截至2008年3月的财年7.3%的增幅。