Nissan to close Chinese joint plant after four years

Nissan was present at CES Asia 2019 in Shanghai, China on June 11, 2019. (Image credit: TechNode/Eugene Tang)

Nissan ceased operations at one of its eight joint manufacturing facilities with Chinese automaker Dongfeng on June 21 in the country’s eastern city of Changzhou, less than four years after production began at the factory in late 2020, Nikkei reported. The plant, where the Japanese automaker has been producing its Qashqai compact crossovers, has an annual capacity of 130,000 units, accounting for more than 8% of the company’s total production capacity of roughly 1.6 million units in China, the report said. Nissan’s China operations reportedly plan to slash their annual output by 30%, after reporting a 16.1% decline in sales last year, as a growing number of consumers turn to low-priced electric vehicles from Chinese rivals. [Nikkei, TechNode reporting]