Nissan targets 12% share in SE Asia

Nissan targets 12% share in SE Asia

TOKYO: Nissan Motor Co. aims to more than double its vehicle sales in Southeast Asia to capture 12 percent of the market within three years, the company said on Tuesday.

Tokyo-based Nissan, Japan's No. 2 automaker, hopes to sell 220,000 vehicles in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in 2008, a company spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires.

That would be two and a half times the number it sold in those countries in 2003, she said.

The company forecasts that the Southeast Asian market will grow by 30 percent to 1.8 million vehicles by 2008 from its 2003 level, she said.

If Nissan meets its target, it would capture 12 percent of total vehicle sales in those countries. In 2003, Nissan held a 5.5 percent share of the market, she said.

Nissan plans to make Thailand a key export hub.

In July, Nissan committed 10 billion Thai baht (US$240 million; euro 199 million) to develop new models and increase production capacity there, the spokeswoman said.

Other Japanese automakers have also begun to focus on Southeast Asia.

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's largest automaker, said last week that it has started selling a new pickup truck in Thailand which it plans to export to Europe, Oceania and other Asian countries from November.

The company said it was the first step in a project to roll out five multipurpose vehicle models worldwide. -- AFP