Nissan Postpones China Sales Goal by One Year

Nissan Motor Co. now aims to capture 10% of China's auto market by 2017, one year later than originally planned, Reuters reports.

The reason, CEO Carlos Ghosn tells the news service, is the massive anti-Japan auto boycott there in China last autumn that slashed Nissan sales. "We practically lost one year, " he says.

For the same reason, Toyota Motor Corp. in January pushed back its goal of selling 1 million vehicles in China by two years to 2014.

Nissan had a 7.6% market share in China in mid-2012. But the country's territorial dispute with Japan stoked violent protests across China. Demonstrators overturned and smashed Japanese vehicles and attacked some drivers.

Sales of Japanese-brand vehicles in China plunged by half in September. By year-end those marques had lost a collective four point of market share to 19%. Their volume is only now gradually recovering.