Nissan Motor Co. is now on the verge of deciding whether or not to pursue its plans to build a new manufacturing plant in China as the auto company seeks to answer the growing demand for their cars which is expected to balloon by 1 million units four years from now.
According to Nissan's Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa, expanding the company's manufacturing capacity is an important step towards the achievement of its goals.
"The first step is adding capacity in the existing operation. We still have some room to expand," the Nissan CEO was quoted as saying by Japan News. The next move to make is for the automaker to "add another new plant" which is deemed capable to produce up to half a million vehicles, Saikawa added.
The expansion plan is but a timely decision to make by Nissan as the Japanese company is now seeing a rising demand for their cars in China.
As revealed over at Bloomberg, the Asian powerhouse is now taking over the spot the US once held as Nissan's prime market, with other foreign makers like Volkswagen (Germany) and General Motors (USA), as competitors.
The news outlet further indicated in its report that should Nissan's plans come to fruition, the Dongfeng Motor Group will assume the company's latest operation in China.
Dongfeng is Nissan's manufacturing arm in China. The affiliate will be the one to oversee the development of an existing auto-making facility in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. With a projected budget of USD$146 million, the said facility will be retrofitted to coincide with Nissan's specifications, allowing it to produce an expected volume of 120,000 cars per year.
Aside from the news in Asia, Nissan is now starting to produce its sought-after Frontier pickup truck series in Argentina.
According to Automotive World, Nissan has struck a deal with Renault's Santa Isabel plant in Cordoba, Argentina to produce the popular light commercial vehicle (LCV) with a yearly output rate of 70,000.
Nissan's half-a-billion dollar investment for the Cordoba facility will also reportedly generate up to 3,000 new jobs for the locals.
"With more than 15 million Nissan pickup owners across 180 countries, trucks are a growing segment across the world and a particular strength of Nissan," Nissan LCV division Senior VP, Ashwani Gupta said.
Frontier is known as Nissan Navara in other regions outside of Latin America.
Argentina will be the fifth country to make the pickup, with the other plants located in Spain, China, Mexico, and Thailand.
