Japan’s Nissan Motor plans to spend about $900 million to increase vehicle-making capacity in China by 40 percent by 2021 – part of a 60 billion yuan ($8.73 billion) plan to become a top three player in the world’s largest vehicle market.
Nissan and its Chinese joint-venture partner Dongfeng Group aim to spend approximately $900 million for the envisioned manufacturing capacity expansion over the upcoming few years, according to a source knowledgeable about the plan. That would increase Nissan’s vehicle production capacity in China to as much as 2.1 million vehicles annually.
The investment is part of a earlier revealed multiyear strategy to extend Nissan’s sales in China.
China’s auto industry has been dominated by General Motors and Volkswagen for almost two decades, with each selling 4 million vehicles in 2017.
Nissan, together with Toyota Motor, Ford Motor, and Honda Motor, lag much behind, each selling 1 million-plus vehicles annually. Nissan wants to break out of this second tier to reign as top-3 China automaker, Nissan China leaders have stated.
Nissan sold 1.5 million vehicles in 2017. Its goal is to sell up to 2.6 million vehicles annually by 2022, stated the source, who refused to be named because he is not allowed to discuss with reporters regarding the expansion.
