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Nissan Considers Leaf Production Facility in World's Largest Car Market, China

 
2,065 views Nov 29, 2009

nissan leaf ev 003

nissan leaf ev 003

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Nissan is considering production of electric vehicles in China.  The company believes that China's fast growing car market will demand EVs and they hope that production within the nation will allow them to produce and sell electric vehicles at a competitive price within the country.

Nissan is considering the Chinese city of Guangzhou for the site of production of EVs within the country.  A senior Nissan exec discussed the possible plans during a ceremony held to celebrate the joint venture between the Japanese automaker and its Chinese partner Dongfeng Motor Co.  The two companies signed an agreement with the city government to initiate an electric vehicle program as part of Nissan's global EV effort.

According to the agreement signed by Nissan, they will work diligently to promote electric vehicles in the are as well as study the possibility of opening a production plant in Guangzhou.  The Nissan Leaf is expected to reach China by 2011.  As Guangzhou mayor Zhang Guangning said, "Based on our agreement with Nissan today, we're going to try to help electric-vehicle technology go mainstream and help Nissan mass-produce electric cars."

Recently, China surpassed the U.S as the world's biggest car market and is rapidly expanding.  The city of Guangzhou alone will have more than 10 million residents at the time of the Leaf launch in China.  Nissan's attempt to penetrate the Chinese EV market will be difficult as the nation has few hybrid and EV owners, but the potential for sales in China is massive.

Source:  Edmunds.com





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Comments (7)

  1. By pat Posted: 11/29/2009 2:46am PST

    Wonder why not have a big Leaf manufacturing plant in US ..the cost of production should be way lower than the cost in European countries (lower wages in US) & export to other countries ..They ofcourse need to get quality people & share profits with them ..
     
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  2. By David Posted: 11/29/2009 4:01am PST

    Nissian is building a leaf production facility in Tennessee. This wold be a second facility.
     
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  3. By  cheap used cars Posted: 11/29/2009 11:08am PST

    China surpassed the U.S as the world's biggest car market and is rapidly expanding, now that's why they will not build U.S. plant
     
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  4. By Roy Posted: 11/29/2009 11:23am PST

    Due to various import restrictions, auto manufactureres are building cars locally in all market areas.
    I take objection to the last statement:
    "Nissan's attempt to penetrate the Chinese EV market will be difficult as the nation has few hybrid and EV owners, but the potential for sales in China is massive."
    There isn't a large proven market for EV owners because EVs are new and expensive. How can you say it will be difficult to penetrate a new market using historical data that doesn't apply?
     
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  5. By davey Posted: 11/29/2009 12:51pm PST

    How can Nissan possibly compete against the Chinese company BYD who is the #1 battery manufacturer in the world? In a few years, they will also be the biggest electric car company.
     
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  6. By Eric Loveday Posted: 11/29/2009 1:48pm PST

    To Roy,
    Hybrids are virtually non-existent in China. There are manufacturers who make and market hybrids in the country, but buyers show little interest in paying more for them.
    The follwing info is from a China Economic website, "The US sold 13 million new vehicles last year, 313,486 or 2.4 percent of them hybrids.
    China, by comparison, sold 9.38 million vehicles last year, but only 2,617, or 2.8 out of 10,000, were hybrids.
    Sales of the Toyota-made Prius have exceeded 1.25 million globally, but only 3,500 of the sedans have been sold in China since they were introduced in the country three years ago.
    Just some numbers on hybrids within China. Their lack of adoption of hybrids would suggest they are unlikely to quickly adopt electric cars.
     
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  7. By  Chris O Posted: 11/30/2009 3:57am PST

    There is also the failure of BYD's F3DM to be considered. Supposedly "the first mass produced plug-in hybrid in the world" only about a hundred were actually produced and apparently BYD is now calling it an experiment rather than a mass market product. Why this failure? Could it really be the price tag that's only 50% of the Volt's rumoured price tag? Was it technical immaturity? Or was BYD stonewalled by the Chinese Bureaucracy which for no apparent reason classified li-ion powertrains as experimental and restricted production and sales? I wonder what Nissan is getting into...
     
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