According to news on December 18, last Sunday, Japanese automaker Nissan said that it plans to sell electric vehicles developed in China globally. Nissan also announced that the company has reached a cooperation agreement with China's Tsinghua University to use China's market resources to accelerate the development of electric vehicles. Masashi Matsuyama, vice president of Nissan Motor and president of Nissan China, said the company is considering exporting fuel vehicles, pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles produced and developed in China to overseas markets.
He said Nissan is targeting the electric vehicle market where Chinese rivals such as BYD exist.
This means Nissan joins the ranks of global brands such as Tesla, BMW and Ford. These brands are constantly expanding the export scale of Chinese-made vehicles and taking advantage of China's lower local manufacturing costs to increase factory capacity utilization.
Nissan sold about 2.8 million vehicles globally in the first 10 months of this year, of which the Chinese market accounted for slightly more than one-fifth. This compares to more than one-third in the same period last year.
Nissan faces severe sales challenges in the Chinese market this year as domestic brands become more popular among users and there is fierce price competition in the market amid a rapid shift to electric vehicles.
Nissan announced that it will establish a joint research center with Tsinghua University next year to focus on the development of electric vehicles, including charging infrastructure and battery recycling technology.
"We hope this collaboration will help us gain a deeper understanding of the Chinese market and develop strategies to better meet the needs of Chinese customers," Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement.
The establishment of the research center also further deepens cooperation between Nissan and Tsinghua University. Since 2016, Nissan has conducted joint research with Tsinghua University on intelligent mobility and autonomous driving technologies. (Chenchen)