Nissan Motor (7201.TYO) plans to increase its production capacity in China by almost 70% with a view to manufacturing 900,000 vehicles a year by 2012, Bloomberg reported. The Japanese company will expand its plant in Guangzhou at a cost of US$732 million to take annual capacity to 600,000 vehicles, up from the current 430,000 vehicles. The plant produces models including the Tiida compact and Livina series. Nissan’s China sales rose 68% to 243,000 units in the first quarter of 2010. Full-year sales for 2009 came in at 756,000 units, up 39% year-on-year. The company expects sales to grow by about 12% this year, including imports. This corresponds to projections of an industry-wide slowdown in sales growth, following a 46% surge to 13.6 million units in 2009, which made China the world’s largest auto market. Nissan hopes to sell "hundreds" of its Leaf electric vehicles in China by 2011, said Carlos Ghosn, the company’s CEO.
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