AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/03 Report--

Recently, Nissan announced the personnel reshuffle of Nissan's management in China. Hideki Kimata, vice president of corporate strategy and business development at Nissan Motor, will take over from Takashi Nishibayashi as vice president, China division minister and general manager of Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd., and report to Shohei Yamazaki, senior vice president of Nissan Motor, chairman of Nissan China Management Committee, and president of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. Takashi Nishibayashi will serve as vice president of Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd.

It is understood that Xilinlong worked at Nissan for more than 20 years, during which time he established a joint venture company Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd in China. Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company, which is in charge of Nissan and Qichen brands, and Dongfeng Infiniti Automobile Co., Ltd. is in charge of Infiniti brand business.

In response to the personnel adjustment, Yamazaki Chuang Ping, senior vice president of Nissan Motor Company and chairman of the Nissan China Management Committee, said: "We are very grateful to Xilinlong over the past 20 years." for Nissan's efforts and contributions to the development of the Chinese market. "

At present, Nissan mainly relies on the Nissan brand to maintain overall sales in China, but there are also many hidden worries about its performance. Data show that Dongfeng Co., Ltd. accumulated sales of 1456608 vehicles in 2020, down 5.16% from the same period last year. Of these, Dongfeng Qichen was 80508, down 31.63% from the same period last year; Dongfeng Nissan was 1119008, down 3.46% from the same period last year; and Dongfeng Infiniti was 25695, down 26.66%. As a result, the Nissan brand accounts for 77% of sales.

The Nissan brand mainly relies on four models: Xuanyi, Xiaoke, Qijun and Teana, especially Xuanyi, which sold a total of 538680 vehicles in 2020. In the car market, there are few models that can shake its position except that Lang Yi can compete with one. However, the new and old Xuanyi 1.6L+CVT gearbox powertrain is relatively single, in the case of German and Japanese brands and independent brands to increase product competitiveness, the competitiveness of such products is facing greater risks, once out of favor Dongfeng Nissan sales will fall off the cliff.

In addition, as a model second only to Xuanyi in sales, Qijun plans to replace it this year. According to the road test and the MIIT application chart, the new Qijun has made significant adjustments in appearance and interior, and its size has also been improved compared with the new model, but it is equipped with a 1.5T three-cylinder turbocharged engine that matches the CVT gearbox. Although there is a significant improvement in power compared with the new model, domestic consumers generally do not accept the three-cylinder engine. In this case, Nissan insists on launching a three-cylinder car. I am afraid its later market performance is not optimistic.

The Chinese market is the largest single market for Nissan cars. According to the data, Nissan sold 4.029 million vehicles worldwide in 2020, of which 1.457 million were sold in China.

The first recovery in the Chinese market has also failed to reverse Nissan's operating difficulties. According to the financial report, Nissan made an operating profit of 27.1 billion yen and a net loss of 37.8 billion yen in the fiscal third quarter ended December. Nissan said that as a result of the recovery in third-quarter results, consolidated operating losses and operating margins were improving, business structure reforms such as fixed fee cuts were moving faster than expected, and net losses had shrunk.

The importance of the Chinese market to Nissan can be imagined, and the future actions of Nissan in China will directly affect its follow-up development.

According to the data, Nissan sold 221900 vehicles in China from January to February in 2021, of which 177034 were under the Nissan passenger car brand. In terms of specific models, Xuanyi sold 80354 vehicles that month, Teana sold 23218 vehicles, Qijun and Xiaoke sold 28696 and 25391 respectively.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat