Nissan, Dongfeng joint venture unveils plans

Hong Kong-listed Chinese automaker, Dongfeng Motor Group Co.’s joint venture with Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. has unveiled an ambitious plan to expand in the world’s second biggest and fastest-growing vehicle market. The largest Sino-foreign auto tie-up, Dongfeng Motor Co. Ltd. (DFL), announced a medium-term business plan calling for a 64% increase in auto sales from 2007 to 1 million vehicles annually by 2012, up from 610,000 units last year, said President Kimiyasu Nakamura in Beijing. The 2012 goal includes 600,000 Nissan-brand passenger cars and 400,000 commercial vehicles under the Nissan and Dongfeng brands. Nakamura said DFL aims to grow its turnover to 100 billion yuan (US$14.49 billion) from 59.32 billion yuan (US$8.59 billion) in the period. To achieve the target, the venture plans to introduce 10 new passenger car models and five new commercial vehicle models within the next five years, he said. Sales of China-made vehicles rose by 19.4% year-on-year to 3.5 million units in the first four months of this year, according to industry data. (May 29, 2008)