Nissan Motor is shutting down its car plant in the eastern city of Changzhou, Jiangsu province in China, Nikkei reported, as the automaker tries to trim overcapacity amid a sales slump in the increasingly price competitive market.
The report said Nissan had been making the Qashqai SUV at Changzhou. Plant capacity is around 130,000 units annually, accounting for more than 8% of Nissan’s total production capacity in China. Today, Friday, was the last day of operation.
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Nikkei noted Nissan operates in China through a joint venture with Dongfeng Motor which has eight car plants in the country including Guangzhou, with total capacity of 1.6m.
The report said Nissan had decided to close the plant because of a significant drop in sales due to the rise of low priced electric vehicles in China. Its new vehicle sales in May fell 2.8% from a year earlier to 64,233 units, the second consecutive month of year on year decline.
Nissan would, however, continue making the Qashqai at a plant in the northeastern city of Dalian, Nikkei added.
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