China Remains Nissan’s No.1 Lifeline For A Bounce-Back

Nissan is among the many carmakers who are currently struggling not only with sales but also with certain image issues.

The boardroom scandal surrounding Carlos Ghosn and the aforementioned sales slump have jeopardized its alliance with Renault. However, there is hope ahead thanks in part to the world’s largest car market. Nissan has endured as one of the strongest Japanese carmakers in China, aided by its 50:50 strategic partnership with the Dongfeng Motor Group.

Back in June, it ranked fourth nation-wide with a 6.7% share, after VW’s two joint ventures and GM’s tie-up with SAIC Motor, as per Autonews Europe.

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It was Ghosn himself who led Nissan’s push into China almost two decades ago and it’s becoming increasingly evident now that the People’s Republic is looking more like a key line of defense for Nissan going forward. The carmaker has recently staked its future on building up sales in China, the U.S. and Japan.

“Weaker brands will be weaker and the stronger ones get stronger, and that’s an opportunity for us,” said Dongfeng Motor president, Shohei Yamazaki. “But once we fail to keep or improve our brand, then it becomes a risk. It’s easy to fall fast in China.”

For Nissan, sales slipped by just 1% in China while its total retail volume dropped 11% in the 2019 fiscal year that ended in March. Furthermore, Chinese volume made up about one-third of Nissan’s global volume of 4.93 million units.

“Nissan’s edge in China is its appealing brand power accumulated from competitive models over the years,” said Cui Dongshu from the China Passenger Car Association. “Yet it’s quite challenging for the company to compete with Toyota because the latter has proven its competitiveness in innovation and competency in winning over motorists for not only its Toyota brand, but also Lexus.”

Regardless of that, Nissan has had tremendous success with its Sylphy sedan, which overtook VW’s Lavida as the best-selling model in China during the first half of this year, as per CPCA data. Nissan’s Chinese lineup boasts price tags ranging from 99,800 yuan to 234,800 yuan ($14,750 to $34,700).

Going forward, Nissan and Dongfeng are planning on boosting total vehicle sales to 2.6 million units by 2022.