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Nissan recently released its financial results for the first half of fiscal year 2023 (April 1, 2023 to September 30, 2023) and raised its revenue and profit forecasts for fiscal year 2023. Nissan's combined net income in the first half of the year was 6.06 trillion yen (about 289.929 billion yuan), with a combined operating profit of 336.7 billion yen (about 16.109 billion yuan) and an operating profit margin of 5.6 percent, according to the financial report.

Nissan said sales in other regions had risen sharply compared with the same period last year, except for the decline in sales in the Chinese market, which was affected by increased competition in the industry and the accelerated transformation of local brands to new energy vehicles. In addition, thanks to the improvement in operating performance and the year-on-year growth in overall sales, Nissan's revenue and operating profit increased significantly.

Makoto Uchida, president and chief executive of Nissan, said: "We have achieved considerable growth in operating profits in the closing year of the Nissan NEXT corporate transformation plan, which gives us confidence to achieve our goals and sustainable growth. At the same time, we will take strategic measures to improve our performance in the Chinese market, and plan to launch four new energy models in the Chinese market starting from the second half of 2024. These measures further highlight Nissan's ongoing commitment to the realization of Nissan's Vision 2030 (Nissan Ambition 2030). "

By the end of 2023, Nissan will put 10 locally developed new energy vehicles into the Chinese market, including Nissan and Qichen brands as well as Dongfeng brands, including four Nissan brands, and the first Nissan-branded new energy vehicles will be put on the market in the second half of 2024, Yamazaki Chuang Ping, president of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., said at the new strategy conference of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd.

In addition, Chen Hao, executive vice president of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., said: Dongfeng Co., Ltd. will develop the international market, and we will start from 2025. The first step is to set an export sales target of 100000 vehicles a year, including four self-developed Nissan brand New Energy models. For Dongfeng Nissan in the passenger car sector, Nissan and Qichen will carry out further brand differentiation positioning to achieve different product series and product value, and launch differentiated products that meet the needs of different consumers, Chen said. For Zhengzhou Nissan in the commercial vehicle sector, it will continue to focus on pick-up trucks and SUV to supplement and support the passenger vehicle business.

In 2003, Nissan and Dongfeng jointly established Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., China's largest automobile joint venture, and Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company to specialize in the passenger car business. In 2004, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. became the controlling shareholder of Zhengzhou Nissan through the acquisition of Zhengzhou Nissan shares, focusing on the commercial vehicle market dominated by pickups, and established Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd. in the same year to manage business in China together with Nissan headquarters, realizing the integration of business in China and developing into the fast lane.

In 2018, Nissan reached a sales peak in China, with annual sales of 1.564 million vehicles, up 2.9% from a year earlier, surpassing Toyota China and Honda China. Of this total, Dongfeng Nissan passenger cars (including Nissan / Qichen) sold 1.3011 million vehicles, up 2.8 per cent from the same period last year. Like many joint ventures, Nissan's sales in China have declined since 2019. In 2022, Nissan sold 1.0452 million vehicles in China, down 22.1% from a year earlier, of which Dongfeng Nissan passenger cars fell 20.9% year-on-year to 897900, falling below 1 million for the first time in seven years. After entering 2023, Nissan's situation in China is still fraught with crises, with Dongfeng Nissan passenger car sales in the first 10 months totaling 585800, down 25.86 per cent from the same period a year earlier. Dongfeng Nissan has fallen out of the top 10, according to data from the Federation of passengers.

It is understood that at present, Dongfeng Nissan passenger cars are mainly engaged in Nissan, Infiniti, and Qichen brands, of which Nissan brands account for the bulk of Nissan's sales in China. Models on sale include Xuanyi, Teana, Qijun, Xiaoke, Tuda, Jinke, Loulan and other models, supported by new and old Xuanyi, with a cumulative sales volume of 288600 vehicles in the first 10 months.

Nowadays, with the rapid rise of independent brands and the tuyere of new energy vehicles, the advantages of joint venture brands are becoming less and less obvious. In fact, the decline of German-Japanese joint venture brands has become a consensus.

According to the official website of Dongfeng Nissan, the only new energy models currently on sale are Ariya, Xuanyi electric drive e-POWER, Qichen V DD-i super hybrid, super hybrid drive Qijun and super hybrid drive Xuanyi. Ariya is the first pure electric SUV model to be launched on September 27th, 2022, which is a key link in Nissan's electrification process.

Data show that ARIYA Ariel was born in the cloud map intelligent pure electricity platform developed by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, with a total of four configurations, with a market guidance price of 272800 yuan to 342800 yuan, and the first batch of new cars will be officially delivered to users in October 2022.

At the beginning of the listing, Takeshi Yamaguchi, vice president of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. and general manager of Dongfeng Nissan passenger car company, expressed full confidence in Ariya, saying that Nissan would once again usher in the baptism of innovation and that Ariya would be the most suitable product for Chinese consumers. However, a year after its launch, sales of this product, which is most suitable for Chinese consumers, are not satisfactory, with an average monthly sales of about 300 units.

In order to change the status quo, on the occasion of Dongfeng Nissan's 20th anniversary in June this year, Dongfeng Nissan held an FAMILY DAY event in Huadu, Guangzhou, to review the company's development over the years and officially announce that it has entered a new "re-entrepreneurship stage", with the goal of challenging the joint venture new energy head camp in terms of sales volume.

In July this year, Qichen V DD-i super hybrid launched; not long ago, Qichen's first pure electric SUV model VX6 made its debut as a class 150000 compact SUV for household electric vehicles, which is expected to be officially launched on November 2. It is not difficult to see that under the new strategic deployment, Dongfeng Nissan is speeding up the layout of new electrified products.

However, whether these new models can save Dongfeng Nissan's falling sales and reputation remains to be seen. Under the siege of its own brand, it is not easy for Dongfeng Nissan to start a business again.

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