Ghosn delays China expansion plans


Sino-Japanese tensions have caused Nissan-Renault's CEO to revise the companies' expansion targets.

Nissan Sylphy

Nissan will need to brighten up its car sales Image: Navigator84

Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan Motor Co, has announced that his team will now have until 2017 to garner a 10% share of the highly sought-after Chinese market, instead of 2016.

“We practically lost a year”, says Ghosn, “so I’m giving them one more year to reach their target.” Cross-border tensions have caused sales of Japanese cars to plummet since the beginning of summer last year.

Although sales have not yet recovered to 2011 levels, Ghosn claims the situation is improving. Sales are “getting back to where [they] were last year” at a quicker rate than Nissan’s other Japanese rivals.

Political friction may have also caused delays at Renault Motor Co, where Ghosn is also CEO. The company is still awaiting government permits for a new factory, although they expect “something to happen before the end of the year.”