Nissan stays positive despite dreary US economy
Despite the plummeting state of the U.S. dollar, Japanese car company Nissan is putting a positive outlook that it can still manage to pull off excellent vehicle sales this year in its other booming markets that include Brazil, India, Russia, and China.
According to Toshiyuki Shiga, who is the chief operating officer of Nissan Motor Company, the dreary stock market of the United States may cause Nissan to be set aside by motorists and by the stocks.
“It is quite difficult to take an optimistic attitude toward the U.S. market,” said Toshiyuki at a news conference.
The dollar may be in its dark era, Nissan made sure that it is not that affected as it can adjust to such economic situation. In fact, raw auto parts for Nissan models are all sourced in Japan. Using only the raw materials that are manufactured locally make this automobile company, which is the third largest in Japan, protected from any fluctuation in the U.S. dollar currency. Carlos Ghosn, who is the chief executive officer of Nissan, backed this statement up by emphasizing that the inflation of the yen versus the dollar since November did not affect the company’s long-term goals.
This coming new fiscal year, the company may also be up for a decrease in demand in Japan. Such possible scenario, however, is already being offset by cutting the company’s costs.
“We are in good shape,” said Toshiyuki.
By March, which is the end of the 2007 fiscal year of Nissan, the company aims to achieve its 3.76 million Nissan units goal and its $7.5 billion (or 800 billion yen) operating earnings. Furthermore, the company is also set to produce a compact car that will go against India’s Tata Motors Limited’s Nano and is keen to launch an electric car in Israel by 2011.
For the current fiscal year ending March, the company has targeted for global sales 3.76 million vehicles, equipped with precision-engineered Nissan Parts, and operating profit of 800 billion yen ($7.5 billion).
Source: Wall Street Journal Online.