Automotive New reported today that Nissan Motor Co. is considering building a factory in North America in 2008-09 or later, citing an interview with the automaker's co-chairman Itaru Koeda.
Koeda told the paper that Nissan, Japan's second-biggest automaker, had not decided if it would set up a plant in the United States or Mexico. The company currently has two plants in the United States and two in Mexico.
Nissan's global unit sales are hurting with just one new model being offered globally in the April-September first half, but it plans to roll out eight fresh models in the latter half of the business year.
Nissan will launch three remodeled cars in the U.S. market, where it makes more than half its profits.
The auto maker will likely include the construction project in its next mid-term business plan, which will be outlined by next spring, the paper said.
Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said in July that the company needs to add more plants in North America and could possibly use some of the excess production capacity that General Motors is planning to shed.
Nissan spokeswoman Mihoko Takeda repeated that the company would need to boost output capacity, either by building a plant or taking over some of GM's excess production capacity, as it plans to continue introducing new models from the business year starting April 2008.