Nissan to Trim Production in China

Nissan Motor Co. plans to trim its production plan for China by 30,000 units over the first two months of 2019 because of the country’s cooling auto market, Reuters reports.

Nissan made about 400,000 vehicles in China during the same period this year. The Nikkei says the cutbacks will affect three factories in the country, including SUV/crossover facilities in Dalian and Zhengzhou.

China normally generates about 25% of Nissan’s global sales. The company sold 1.5 million cars and crossovers there in 2017 and hopes to boost volume to 2.6 million vehicles by 2022.

But the company’s sales growth in China through the first 11 months of 2018 slowed to 4% from 12% in the same period last year. Analysts expect the overall Chinese car market to shrink this year for the first time in nearly 30 years.