BANGKOK, July 25 – Nissan Motor Asia Pacific on Monday introduced a new six-year business plan for Southeast Asia, aiming to expand growth across the ASEAN region, according to Toru Hasegawa, president of Nissan Motor Thailand and Nissan Motor Asia Pacific.
The Japan’s second-biggest carmaker announced setting a goal to triple its sales volume to 500,000 units with a 15 per cent rise in market share, compared to previous figures of 150,000 units and 6 per cent market share in the region.
Nissan planned to launch over 10 new automobile models and to collaborate with regional governments to gain competitive advantages during the six-year period, intending that its strategic plan will be applied to cover prospective markets in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
As the sharply rising automobile demand in regional emerging markets can be seen, Mr Toru projected that it will soon increase to more than half of the company’s global sales volume.
Thailand and Indonesia were considered as the key countries to drive and boost regional car sales, he said, adding that the sales volume in Indonesia increased dramatically through a low-cost eco car scheme initiated and fuelled by the government.
The latest mid-term business plan for the South East Asia will focus on four points to be achieved during the period.
Japanese auto giant will prepare for the Indonesia’s low-cost environmentally friendly car programme, tripling the size of the engineering staff at the Nissan Technical Centers in Thailand and Indonesia.
Additionally, JATCO Ltd, a Nissan affiliate company and a manufacturer of automatic and continuously variable transmissions (AT/CVT), will invest around US$250 million to establish a new plant in Thailand’s eastern province of Chon Buri to manufacture CVT units for the Nissan plants in the region. JATCO will also become the first manufacturer of CVTs in Thailand.
In the meantime, the automobile company also plans to set up Nissan Motor Asia Pacific (NMAP) in Thailand as its new, strategic regional headquarters. It will take strong leadership to cross-functionally control the mid-term plan progress and ensure its realisation.
NMAP will also become the first car company set up in Thailand under the government’s International Procurement Center (IPC), to enhance the six-year business plan to complete its goal.
In a related development, the Nissan Motor Thailand (NMT) also announced the newly-established business plan called “Power Up 2016,” focusing on the achievement of the domestic eco car sales, the improvement of the organisation culture and the projection to double its market share from five per cent in 2008.
By the end of the fiscal year 2010, the sales volume of the NMT reached 65,000 units with a 7.4 per cent increase in the market share, higher than earlier projected.
As of June of fiscal year 2011, the sales volume of the company in Thailand had captured 8.7 per cent of the market share.
