Nissan shifts best-seller production to India for cutting costs

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Tokyo: Nissan Motor Co. will shift some production of its top-selling compact car to India, Thailand and other nations, the company said Friday.

The Nissan March model, and its counterpart Micra model for French alliance partner Renault SA, are now produced in Japan and Great Britain.

Starting in 2010, the model will be produced in India, Thailand and three other nations, company spokeswoman Kana Minamidate said.

But Nissan has not announced production of the March will end in Japan, she said, declining comment on a report Friday in Japan's top business daily The Nikkei that said all domestic March production will be moved to Thailand.

Japan's No. 3 automaker now produces 47,000 March compact cars a year at its Oppama plant near Tokyo for domestic sale.

Moving production to Thailand would take advantage of the surging yen and cut costs by about 30 percent, the Nikkei said.

If that happens, it would mark the first time Nissan or any major Japanese automaker has moved domestic production of a best-selling model overseas.

The dollar's plunge to 13-year lows at below 90 yen lately has fueled speculation that Japanese automakers may move production overseas to take advantage of it.

The weak dollar has so far proved devastating for the Japanese automakers by diminishing the value of overseas sales when converted into yen.