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

On December 17, Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd. announced that Nissan will set up a joint research center with Tsinghua University to start joint research on new topics from 2024. According to another report, Changshi Matsuyama, general manager of Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd., said that Nissan is considering producing and developing existing internal combustion engine cars in China, as well as the upcoming pure electric and hybrid cars, which will be exported to overseas markets.

Specifically, officials say the research focuses on effective communication for Generation Z, as well as the role and social responsibility of companies in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem, including charging infrastructure, battery recycling, reuse and energy management. At the same time, Nissan has further strengthened its cooperation with Tsinghua University, signing a memorandum of understanding on comprehensive cooperation in this joint research project, including joint research, talent training and exchanges that have been carried out continuously since 2016. In response, Mr. Makoto Uchida, President and CEO of Nissan, said: "through this cooperation, we hope to deepen our understanding of the Chinese market and develop a market that is more in line with the needs of Chinese consumers."

According to Nissan CEO Uchida's previous plan, Nissan will launch four new energy models to the Chinese market from the second half of 2024. Mr Matsuyama said Nissan was considering targeting the same market as Chinese rivals such as BYD.

In fact, Nissan is not the only brand that uses the Chinese market as an export base. Prior to this, brands including Tesla, BMW and Ford have accelerated the expansion of exports of Chinese-made cars.

With the rapid rise of the domestic new energy market, joint venture Japanese car companies, including Nissan Motors, are facing unprecedented pressure. Nissan's consolidated net income in the second quarter was 3.1457 trillion yen (about 150.499 billion yuan) and consolidated operating profit was 208.1 billion yen (about 9.956 billion yuan), according to financial data. Net profit rose from 17.4 billion yen ($116.6 million) to 190.7 billion yen ($1.28 billion), up 173.3% from a year earlier. 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. It is worth mentioning that although profits have soared, sales are in a state of decline.

Nissan sold 74879 terminal cars in China in November, up 2.2 per cent from a month earlier and 56.05 per cent year-on-year, according to data. Of this total, Dongfeng Nissan (including Nissan, Qichen and Infiniti brands) sold 70648 vehicles, up 55.80% from a year earlier.

Taken together, Nissan's sales in China increased significantly in November compared with the same period last year. The reason is that in the same period last year, Nissan China was affected by persistent external factors such as an industry-wide shortage of chips and other components, as well as the COVID-19 epidemic, when Nissan's sales in China fell 52.5% year-on-year to 47983 vehicles. It should be noted that Nissan China is still in a downward trend by extending the time to the previous November. Nissan sold 694895 terminal vehicles in China from January to November 2023, down 28.71 percent from a year earlier, according to data.

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