Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. recently announced that the replacement for the current Nissan Micra compact car will be manufactured at a Renault plant in Europe. Due to start production in 2016, the vehicle will be exported across Europe’s left-hand drive markets. Under the Nissan Power 88 six-year business plan, the company will launch, on an average, one new model every six weeks for the duration of the plan.
Nissan’s manufacturing capacity in Europe and India (the current source for the Micra) will be fully utilized in the mid-term period.
The decision to propose the vehicle to Renault to build at one of its European plants benefits Nissan in several ways including capital expense reduction, foreign exchange exposure reduction and working capital reduction through shorter supply chains. Commenting on the decision to propose consignment of the vehicle to a Renault plant, Trevor Mann, Chairman of the Management Committee, Nissan Europe said: “Nissan is pleased to leverage the economic and logistical benefits of sourcing the next generation Micra at a forecasted annual volume of 82,000 units from a Renault plant in Europe. Nissan already sources powertrain from the Cleon facility and the NV400 light commercial vehicle from the Batilly plant.”
The Nissan Micra, also sold under the March name in certain markets, is one of the company’s highest selling cars.