Japan – The OEM said its global production rose to record levels during the year, driven by demand for crossovers such as the Rogue and Qashqai as well as vehicles with autonomous drive and connected car technologies. Worldwide production increased by 9% to 5,642,381 units.
Globally, passenger car production was up by 23.1% on the year before, reaching 901,623 units. However, commercial vehicle production dropped by 3% to 113,410 vehicles. The total Japanese output of 1,015,033 units surpassed the previous year’s results for the first time in five years and represented an increase of 19.5% on the preceding 12 months. Non-Japanese output was up 6.9% to 4,680,741 units, an increase for the eighth consecutive year. Production exceeded that of the previous year in the UK (+8.5%), Spain (+26.3%), Mexico (+4.1%) and China (+10.6%) but the US figure was down slightly (-0.4%) to 990,938.
Nissan’s global production in March totalled 543,547 units (+14.4%), with 94,793 made in Japan (+29.4%) and 448,754 outside the country (+11.7%). Output was higher in the UK (+14.9%), Spain (+55.7%), Mexico (+25.7%), and China (13.7%) but US production was 4.4% lower at 94,886 units.
