Nissan Motor Co., the second largest automobile manufacturer in Japan, overtook major international brands such as the Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) in 2011 in terms of imports. The company gained the position of being the second biggest importer of automobiles in the country.
According to Japan Automobile Importers Association, Nissan that manufactures its March compact car in Thailand and imports it to Japan registered a rise of 86 per cent resulting in 50,269 imported units in 2011. The German automobile manufacturing giant, Volkswagen AG, was the leading importer in the Japanese automobile market with 50,635 units. It registered a rise of 8.4 per cent from 2010.
Toshitake Inoshita, a spokesman at Yokohama-based Nissan, said “The increase is purely from the March compacts.” The company from Oppama, Japan had shifted the production of the March to Thailand in order to avoid the adverse effects of the strengthening yen which is reducing profits from exporting cars made in Japan. The company is also lowering operational costs by establishing manufacturing in vicinity of the suppliers. Carlos Ghosn, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nissan and Renault SA, had stated in October that as the yen gets stronger most automobile manufacturers will choose to shift their production facility abroad.
Yoshiaki Kawano, Analyst, IHS Automotive, said “The increase in cars made by Japanese automakers overseas will continue. With the strong yen, imports of models like the March compact that are targeted for sales in all regions are only likely to grow.”
BMW’s imports in Japan increased 5.5 per cent to 34,195 units in 2011 which resulted in a 12.41 per cent share of the company in the import market. Volkswagen occupied 18.37 per cent share of the import market while Nissan registered 18.24 per cent. Japans leading automobile manufacturer, Toyota Motor Corporation, recorded imports of 15,377 vehicles that resulted in a 50 per cent rise.
Bill Krueger, Vice Chairman for Nissan’s operations in the United States, said that the company also intends to increase its production capacity in the US to 85 per cent of the sales by 2015.
