Nissan Motor Co is considering reducing production capacity in China 30 percent, while Honda Motor Co intends to cut 20 percent, the Nikkei reported yesterday.
The Japanese automakers are struggling in the face of increased local competition from manufacturers such as BYD Co (比亞迪) as electric vehicles (EVs) take hold in China, the newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.
Honda’s output last year was about 1.2 million units versus capacity of 1.49 million, so there is room to rationalize, a spokesperson for the company said.
Photo: AFP
A representative for Nissan was not immediately available for comment.
Honda and Nissan sales in China have been falling for at least three years, while Toyota Motor Corp’s has been mostly flat. The main issue has been the lack of attractive EV offerings from the trio.
Japanese vehicles are mostly produced and sold through joint ventures with local partners. Guangzhou Automobile Group Co (廣州汽車集團) has partnerships with Toyota and Honda, while state-backed Dongfeng Motor Group Co (東風汽車集團) has ventures with Honda and Nissan.
Nissan might cut annual production capacity by as much as 500,000 units from the current level of 1.6 million, the Nikkei reported.
Honda is looking at reducing annual output to about 1.2 million units, the newspaper said.
Separately, Xiaomi Corp (小米) announced it would start selling its long-awaited EVs this month as the electronics firm breaks into the red-hot contest in China’s EV market led by Tesla Inc and BYD.
The Beijing-based Xiaomi, best known for its smartphones, plans to offer its SU7 series for purchase on March 28 and March 29, it wrote in a Sina Weibo post yesterday, without disclosing pricing.
The SU7 name stands for “Speed Ultra,” and the vehicles can go from 0 to 100kph in 2.78 seconds, Xiaomi said.
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