Nissan, Mitsubishi to Debut First Shared Minicar

Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will begin offering Japanese customers their first jointly developed minicar next month.

The little MPV will be marketed by Nissan as the DAYZ and by Mitsubishi as the eK Wagon. The partners kicked off production of the two models on Monday at MMC's Mizushima plant in southern Japan's Okayama prefecture.

Bloomberg News says the new cars will compete with such rivals as the Honda N-box and Daihatsu Move in a market that currently accounts for 38% of passenger vehicle sales in Japan.

Demand for the minis is expected to grow this year, at least partly offsetting continuing decline in conventional passenger car sales, according to analysts. But they tell Bloomberg the profit margin from minicars is only one-tenth that from conventional passenger cars.

Nissan plans to introduce a second tiny car co-developed with MMC next year. The company also will continue to sell other, rebadged MMC minicar models, according to Bloomberg. The news service notes that Suzuki Motor Corp. previously supplied rebadged minis to Nissan.