Dongfeng, Nissan JV lifts '09 car sales target 29%

Nissan Motor's Chinese venture with Dongfeng Motor Group aims to sell 500,000 cars this year, exceeding its original target by 29 percent, Reuters reported today, citing the venture's head.

Dongfeng Motor Co, a 50-50 joint venture between Nissan Motor Dongfeng Motor Group, had initially planned to sell 388,000 cars this year, but the Chinese government's tax reduction scheme has fanned unexpected growth in demand for smaller cars.

"We will meet that (original) target in October," Dongfeng Motor Co President Kimiyasu Nakamura told reporters at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama, Tokyo. Earlier this month, Nissan lifted its own 2009 China sales target for Nissan- and Infiniti-brand cars by 18 percent to 670,000 vehicles.

Nissan, Japan's No. 3 automaker, has seen rapid growth as its model line-up focuses on cars with engines smaller than 1.6 liters, which qualify for tax cuts under China's stimulus package introduced earlier this year.

Dongfeng Motor Co, which also sells commercial vehicles under the Dongfeng badge, has a goal of selling 1 million vehicles by 2012, and making annual sales revenues of 100 billion yuan ($14.7 billion) by then.

The joint venture plans to spend 6.5 billion yuan setting up three new plants in China from 2009 to 2010. The three factories will be located in Guangzhou, Shiyan, and Zhengzhou.