Nissan blames virus for delaying launch of China venture
Monday, April 21, 2003
biz.scmp.com
MARK O'NEILL
The Sars outbreak has delayed the official launch of Nissan Motor's giant joint venture in China, a senior vice-president of the company said yesterday.
Katsumi Nakamura was speaking after posing next to a Sunny passenger car, which he unveiled on the media day of the Shanghai Auto Show.
In September last year in Beijing, Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn signed a "comprehensive strategic partnership" with Dongfeng Motor, one of China's biggest car groups, and said the venture would be launched in spring this year.
"In preparation for the launch, we had to send a lot of engineers from Nissan. There was some hesitation to send people to China," Mr Nakamura said.
"We now expect to start the joint venture [next month]. Compared to the size and complexity of the venture, the process has gone very quickly.
"The main issues have been those common to other joint ventures - management and valuation of assets. The managers sent by the two sides should belong to the joint venture."
Dongfeng and Nissan each holds 50 per cent of the joint-venture company, which involves an investment of US$1 billion by Nissan, making it one of its biggest investments overseas.
The Sunny is the first vehicle produced by the joint venture and will be rolled out in China this summer. With a two-litre, four-cylinder engine, it will cost about 200,000 yuan (HK$187,440), putting it into one of the fastest growing and most competitive segments of the market.
Mr Nakamura said the joint venture would produce 20,000 Sunnys this year and double that number next year. The local content rate is 50 per cent.
He said Nissan had been in China for 30 years and that this year marked the firm's 70th anniversary.
"We have exciting new models that are at the heart of Nissan's revival over the past three years. We aim to produce 900,000 vehicles by 2010," Mr Nakamura said.
While Nissan enjoys a good reputation as an imported car, the company has been one of the last global manufacturers to make a major investment in China because of the wrenching overhaul of its operations at home under the leadership of Mr Ghosn.
"Coming late into the market has its advantages," said a European car executive attending the show. "Unemployment is higher now than in the 1980s and 1990s, meaning that the foreign partner can drive a better bargain in terms of the workforce.
"The government is very afraid of unemployment." |
