Nissan Motor expects its North American business to be profitable on annual US total sales of 10.5m vehicles, executive vice president Carlos Tavares has said.
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Tavares said Nissan was using 60-70% of its North American production capacity now.
“Our plants are at a point where we can be profitable with a total US market of 10.5m vehicles,” Tavares told Reuters on the sidelines of the Tokyo motor show.
This year, the US market is widely expected to total 10.5m units, down sharply from 16.2m in 2007 and 13.2m last year, the news agency noted.
Tavares said so far in 2009 Nissan had managed to keep its market share in the United States unchanged from last year without the use of heavy, profit-eroding sales incentives.
He also said North American profitability at such a level would not be affected even if dollar weakened against the Japanese currency to JPY80.
“We have been preparing (for currency swings), and among the three (top) Japanese (carmakers) I would say we are the most advanced,” Tavares said, noting Nissan’s strategy of seeking low cost sources for parts procurement around the world.
