Nissan chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn has warned that the automaker may miss its domestic sales target this year because customers are shifting to minicars.

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As a result, he said, sales for the business year to 2007 could be between 800,000 and 846,000. Nissan’s official forecast is for sales of 846,000 units.


Nissan’s domestic sales have fallen 18% this year, because of the shift in segmentation.


Other automakers are similarly affected. Honda reported earlier this week that its domestic sales were down 11% in the first five months of the year.


Nissan is responding by introducing new minicar models to offset the loss of sales of compact cars such as the Tiida and Note. Ghosn said that sales would continue to be weak until new models are introduced in the second half of the year, according to Bloomberg. Eight new models would be introduced over the winter. Two of these will be minicars.

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Nissan is also suffering a drop in domestic production, but unlike other Japanese automakers has not managed to offset this with an increase in exports. Overall production was down 11% in the first five months of the year, with exports down 16%.


According to The Associated Press (AP) the mood of the shareholder meeting was nevertheless upbeat. Ghosn said that the Renault-Nissan alliance has been highly successful and that it has yet to reach its full potential. AP noted that Nissan shares had risen by around 27% from the end of fiscal 2004 to the end of fiscal 2005, although they have dropped lately in line with the overall decline in the Tokyo stock market.


Ghosn said that overall Nissan sales will increase, thanks particularly to increased sales in the US.


Ghosn also said that the company is bringing forward plans to relocate its head office to Yokohama by 2009, instead of the initial target date of 2010.