Nissan Motor is reported to be planning to spend JPY15.7 billion (US$134 million) to expand engine and suspension production capacities at its plant near Tokyo by March 2008.
Engine-production capacity at the Yokohama plant, about 19 miles (30 km) west of Tokyo, will be boosted nearly 60% to 680,000 units a year as a result, the company said, according to Reuters.
The report said the latest expansion follows an JPY11 billion investment the company made in the past two years on the plant, one of Nissan’s two main domestic engine plants.
Reuters noted that Nissan, 44%-owned by Renault, last month reported a worse-than-expected 5.5% drop in quarterly operating profit as a price war took the shine off buoyant US sales, but expects sales to improve next business year, when it plans to launch 10 new vehicles worldwide.
