Nissan 2007 Annual Report Download - page 32

Nissan Annual Report 2006-2007
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Although the competition is tough in China, we
are also gaining sales and profit. We introduced the
Livina there and it’s selling very well. Sales of the
Tiida, which is a major model in GOM in terms of
volume and profit, are now up in many markets. So
far in 2007, the sales of passenger vehicles are
approximately 128,000 units, which is an increase of
30 percent compared to last year.
Since our business in GOM occurs primarily in
emerging markets, we face both huge risks and
huge opportunities. Without taking risks, though, we
cannot penetrate these markets. Fortunately, things
are generally good. Tensions between Pakistan and
India are decreasing, and China hasn’t given us any
big surprises so far.
One of our current initiatives is to further
empower our regional headquarters in GOM to
ensure that we react faster to market changes.
We are also planning to delegate more authority on
the R&D and purchasing sides so that the local
teams can refine products and strategy. We are
already preparing for future geographic expansion
in those areas.
We expect further growth in volume in countries
like China, India, Pakistan and Korea, so we will need
to reinforce their sales networks. This year we are
aiming for sales of about one million units throughout
GOM, which represents around a 14 percent
increase from fiscal 2006.
GOM performed well in fiscal 2006 in an overall
sense, increasing by 8 percent, and we reached
around 860,000 units in total sales during the
year, which is very encouraging.
However, 2006 was a difficult time due to both
external and internal factors. Some markets like
Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan were sluggish,
primarily because of drops in total industry volume
and a lack of new models. The TIV in Taiwan, for
example, fell by 30 percent, due to both economic
and political causes. Indonesia now imports rather
than exports oil, and is suffering from the higher
prices of oil and other economic factors. TIV there has
basically dropped by 40 percent. In Thailand, many of
our main products were at the end of their model
lives, most critically the Pickup, in a country where
pickups comprise over 50 percent of the market.
There were bright spots, of course. One was the
Infiniti G35, which was named both Import Car of the
Year and Car of the Year in its segment in Korea.
The common platforms and powertrains the Alliance
uses continue to make a positive difference, giving
us the cost benefits of the Renault-Nissan global
sourcing network.
Fiscal 2007 is shaping up nicely. This past
January in Thailand we introduced a completely new
truck, the Frontier Navara. It’s doing extremely well—
we’ve gotten lots of “conquest” sales, meaning that
customers are coming to us from other makers. In
Indonesia our new global strategic model, the Grand
Livina, has received an even better reaction from
customers than we anticipated. Renault will also be
providing us with a new diesel engine. This is a key
success factor in the GOM market, because GOM
customers are sensitive about the running costs of
vehicles, and the cost of ownership for diesels is
much less than for petrol engine models.
Recovering Momentum in GOM
Asia/Oceania
YASUAKI HASHIMOTO
Corporate Vice President
GENERAL OVERSEAS MARKETS
»REGIONAL ACTION
Frontier Navara