Nissan (Red) Friday: China, The Lost Year

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Nissan is the largest of all Japanese automakers in China, and therefore has the most to lose. With about a quarter of its global sales in China, Nissan has the highest exposure to the ups and downs of the Middle Kingdom. When Chinese rioted in the streets, overturned Japanese cars and torched their dealerships , Nissan was beaten hard. At one point, sales of Nissan cars were cut in half.

Recently, the situation has improved a bit. Nissan’s April sales in China even booked a slight increase over April 2012. A month and a couple percent do not make a trend. Says Ghosn:

“I consider recovery achieved completely when our market share will come back to what it was before the unfortunate events of September 2012. And our forecast is that we will reach this level by the last quarter of 2013 – supposing there will be no other adverse events to deteriorate the relationship between China and Japan.

In a way, we would have lost more than one year.”

Shortly after the riots, TTAC predicted that the effects of the island row would last longer than predicted, and would hit Japanese carmakers harder than tsunami and floods – at least as far as lost sales are concerned.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Volt 230 Volt 230 on May 10, 2013

    For a moment I thought it was another Mr Bean movie coming to a theater near you.

  • Badtzmaru Badtzmaru on May 10, 2013

    Mr. Bean-semblance notwithstanding, can you leave the usage of particularly unflattering photos and video-grabs to the Drudge Report, pretty-please?

  • 3-On-The-Tree 4cyl as well.
  • Luke42 I want more information about Ford’s Project T3.The Silverado EV needs some competition beyond just the Rivian truck. The Cybertruck has missed the mark.The Cybertruck is special in that it’s the first time Tesla has introduced an uncompetitive EV. I hope the company learns from their mistakes. While Tesla is learning what they did wrong, I’ll be shopping to replace my GMC Sierra Hybrid with a Chevy, a Ford, or a Rivian — all while happily driving my Model Y.
  • 3-On-The-Tree I wished they wouldn’t go to the twin turbo V6. That’s why I bought a 2021 Tundra V8.
  • Oberkanone My grid hurts!Good luck with installing charger locations at leased locations with aging infrastructure. Perhaps USPS would have better start modernizing it's Post offices to meet future needs. Of course, USPS has no money for anything.
  • Dukeisduke If it's going to be a turbo 4-cylinder like the new Tacoma, I'll pass.BTW, I see lots of Tacomas on the road (mine is a 2013), but I haven't seen any 4th-gen trucks yet.
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