AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/08 Report--

On April 8th, Nissan China released its latest sales figures. Nissan sold 59914 terminal cars in China in March, up 10.05% from a year earlier, with Dongfeng Nissan (including Nissan, Qichen and Infiniti brands) selling 56486 vehicles, according to the data.

In addition, from January to March this year, Nissan's cumulative sales in China, including passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles, reached 167291 vehicles, an increase of 3.29% over the same period last year.

In response, Mr. Shohei Yamazaki, Senior Vice President of Nissan Motor Company, Chairman of Nissan China Management Committee and President of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., said: "in the first quarter of 2024, the situation in the Chinese market is still complex. Nissan's sales figures for March and the first quarter increased compared with the same period a year earlier. Nissan will continue to fulfill its commitment to Chinese consumers and will continue to provide a variety of product choices and user values. "

At present, Dongfeng Nissan passenger cars mainly operate three major brands: Nissan, Infiniti and Qichen. Among them, the Nissan brand is the main source of sales of Nissan in China. Models on sale include Xuanyi, Teana, Qijun, Xiaoke, Tuda, Jinke, Loulan and so on. Xuanyi is the main product of Dongfeng Nissan. Retail data show that from January to February in 2024, the sales of Xuanyi, Xiaoke and Teana were 50262, 16768 and 12962 respectively, while the rest of the models sold less than 1,000. For example, Qijun, which ranked fourth, had only 6819, while Jinke and Panda only had 3862 and 3090.

In the field of new energy vehicles, Dongfeng Nissan is also performing poorly. Ariya Ariya, for example, accumulated retail sales of 296 vehicles from January to February in 2024, of which 120 were in February.

Nissan is having a hard time at the moment. Nissan is considering cutting production by 30 per cent in China, while Nissan has an annual production capacity of about 1.6 million units in China, meaning it will cut production by about 500000 vehicles a year, the Nikkei News reported on March 12.

On March 14, Nissan China announced a number of senior personnel appointments on its website, and the new appointments came into effect on April 1, 2024. Among them, Yamazaki Chuang-hei, senior vice president of Nissan Motor Company and chairman of the China Management Committee, will continue to hold his current position with the current terms of reference unchanged; Guan Kouxun, current regional president of Nissan Motor Company ASEAN, will be promoted to vice president of Nissan Motor Company and general manager of Dongfeng Nissan passenger car Company, and report to Yamasaki Zhuanghei. As for personnel changes, officials say the appointments are designed to support the implementation of the new fiscal year and the next medium-term plan, accelerate the implementation of Nissan's electric drive and marketing strategy, and achieve long-term sustainable development.

The following day, Nissan and Honda announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to carry out comprehensive cooperation on the electric vehicle business, including joint procurement, joint development of power platforms, generalization of spare parts, and so on. Nissan and Honda hope to reduce costs through the integration of resources and enhance their competitiveness for electric vehicle products.

On March 25th, Nissan announced plans to increase sales of another 1 million vehicles by the end of fiscal year 2026, and will launch 30 new models by fiscal year 2026, of which 16 are electric vehicles and 14 are internal combustion engines. achieve cost parity for electric and fuel vehicles by 2030. In addition, Nissan said it planned to increase its operating margin to more than 6 per cent by the end of fiscal year 2026. "this plan will enable us to develop further and faster in terms of value and competitiveness," Nissan President and Chief Executive Officer Shigeru Uchida said in a statement. " At the same time, Uchida said: "in the face of extreme market volatility, Nissan will take decisive action under the new plan to ensure sustainable growth and profitability."

At present, the Chinese market has become one of the core markets of Nissan in the world, but from the perspective of Dongfeng Nissan's own situation, it is facing greater pressure. After entering the Spring Festival of the year of the Dragon in 2024, BYD shouted the slogan "electricity is lower than oil" and launched a number of cheaper "glory version" models, among which the prices of Qin PLUS Honor Edition and Destroyer 05 Glory Edition both started at 79800 yuan, which were reduced by 20000 yuan and 22000 yuan respectively compared with 2023 models. The ones that have been hit hard are the 100000-yuan joint venture fuel vehicles, including Nissan Xuan Yi, Toyota Corolla and other models.

Nissan Xuanyi was first introduced by Dongfeng Nissan in 2006 and currently sells for 10. 86-174900 yuan. Since its launch, the car has once become the "handle" of Dongfeng Nissan's sales. Data show that Xuanyi sold 420665 vehicles in 2022, accounting for 51.05 percent of Dongfeng Nissan's total sales (823988), and 376109 in 2023, accounting for 55.82 percent of the total (673755). In terms of the overall car market, Nissan Xuanyi also won the top spot in fuel car sales for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, but was surpassed by BYD Qin PLUS New Energy (434213 vehicles) in 2023. With the decline in the price of BYD Qin PLUS Glory Edition models, Xuanyi's position in the car market may continue to be impacted.

As the sales support of Nissan, Dongfeng Nissan does not have a popular style in pure electric models, and fuel vehicles are becoming less and less attractive, Nissan is under great pressure. How to build popular models in the Chinese market and recover the lost market share is an urgent problem in front of Nissan.

Nissan Hyper Force pure electric concept car

On April 8, Nissan China announced on its website that Nissan Hyper Force pure electric concept car and Nissan Formula E Gen3 racing car will make their debut in China at the Beijing Auto Show, and a number of new energy concept models developed based on the needs of the Chinese market will also be unveiled for the first time. Nissan Hyper Force pure electric concept car will be a high-performance model.

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