Nissan's China JV launches 280M yuan commercial vehicle tech center
Nissan Motor Co.'s joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Co. last week started building an r&d center for light commercial vehicles in the north China city of Zhengzhou.
The facility, which will cost 280 million yuan ($44 million), is scheduled to begin operation in 2013, according to Dongfeng Motor Co. Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile Co. is the joint venture between Nissan and Dongfeng.
The center will help Nissan to develop new SUVs, MPVs, pickups, vans and light trucks for the global market and modify models for the Chinese marketplace.
Likewise, Dongfeng will use the center to develop and upgrade its own light commercial vehicles.
The center also will develop EVs and hybrid-powered vehicles sold in China by the two partners.
China is Nissan's largest market. In the first ten months of the year, Nissan sales in China jumped 20 percent to 679,722 vehicles, according to J.D. Power.
