Nissan’s U.S. sales expected to soar this year
Nissan Motor Company, along with fellow Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company, has a bigger chance of making it big in terms of volume sales this year as its fuel-efficient vehicles have achieved a following in the United States and have sold a good number of other models in Russia and China.
Nissan and Honda, along with Toyota Motor Corporation, are all doing great in terms of sales in booming markets China and Russia. According to the five consolidated estimates done by Bloomberg, Nissan posed an increase of as much as 26 percent, which translates to 131.5 billion yen, in its sales by the last quarter of 2007. In the U.S. market, Nissan posted a 5.1 percent increase. Honda, on the other hand, recorded a 2.3 percent increase or $1.39 from October to December 31 based on six estimates.
The cost of gas contributed a lot to the car preference of a lot of drivers in America. With the price of gasoline reaching as much as $3 per gallon, more motorists in the United States have decided to use fuel efficient vehicles. Compact cars like the Nissan Versa or Honda Fit are more preferred than big pick-up trucks or sport utility vehicles, which are mostly from American automakers Ford and General Motors, that tend to consume too much gas. This factor further boosted Nissan and other automobile companies from Japan to rank.
“Japanese brands are very strong in emerging markets thanks to their quality and durability,” said Koichi Ogawa of Tokyo’s Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. “Expertise in building small cars will continue driving Japanese automakers’ sales higher.”
Such progress proved to be a relief for Nissan, which is hailed as the third-biggest Japanese automobile company, as it suffered a 23 percent set back two years ago. To date, this was the lowest annual profit of the automaker. The seen culprit for it was the lack of new models from Nissan.
To avoid being in the slumps again again, Nissan’s Chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn has laid out plans of releasing 11 models this year. The pool of cars will be made of brand new and spruced up Nissan vehicles that will all be equipped with quality Nissan parts. If all things go well, Nissan may eventually fully establish its brand in the U.S. market.
Source: Bloomberg.