Nissan Fulfils Commitment to Egypt to Build Local Nissan Sunny

Plans include making Egypt a production and export base of Nissan to Middle East and North Africa

Cairo - February 28, 2006: Less than a year since Nissan Motor Egypt announced its new era in the Egyptian market, the Japanese company proved it is fulfilling its commitment by offering today the first batch of Nissan Sunny 1600CC to the Egyptian market in three different categories – EX Saloon manual & automatic transmission and Super Saloon automatic transmission.

In April of last year, Nissan Motor Egypt had announced its plans to assemble the first sedan in its plant in 6th of October Industrial City.

The Japanese giant had registered its new era in Egypt last year through the Pick Up, which is considered the first vehicle to be produced and sold under the management of Nissan in Egypt, which also follows the plan of making Egypt a production base to the Middle East and North Africa.

"We have announced last year our plans for assembling the Nissan Sunny in Egypt, and today we are glad to announce that we have fulfilled our commitment to the Egyptian market by offering the 2006 model year Sunny, produced locally in two categories ‘Super Saloon' and ‘EX Saloon' models" commented Yasuaki Hashimoto, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Nissan in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

"We hope that the locally produced Sunny is another new era for Nissan Motor Egypt to help assuring its position in the local market and helps us offer more great models from Nissan to the Egyptian customers" added Hashimoto.

Hashimoto also assured that this big step helps Nissan's performance globally under the new three-year plan, titled "Nissan Value-Up". Nissan hopes its sales will grow through this plan to reach an additional 4.2 million units, in addition to maintaining the highest profit margin between global automakers and to maintain the return on investment capital estimated at 20%.

Mitsuji Sato, Managing Director of Nissan Motor Egypt, assured that offering the locally produced Sunny represents one of Nissan new era stages in Egypt, where the company committed itself to offer more high quality Nissan products through the current year.

Further, Moustafa Hussein, Marketing and Sales Manager at Nissan Motor Egypt, assured the public that Nissan Motor Egypt is currently heading an effort to extend its local distributors network of local sales companies through its ambitious plan to offer the best sales and after sales services that the consumer expects from a brand like Nissan, which has proved its presence the world over.

Nissan had announced on 28 June 2004 that it will be handling the direct management of its operations in Egypt by investing U.S$60 million to purchase, renovate and expand its plant, in addition to reviving the sales, marketing and distribution activities in Egypt.

Throughout the first year, Nissan Motor Egypt was able to achieve lots of its ambitions by investing in its plant located in 6th of October Industrial City to reach a total production capacity of 17,000 units annually. Also, the number of employees has increased from 245 since the beginning of operations in April, up to 350 workers currently, which ensures Nissan Motor Egypt's effectiveness in developing automotive production activities in Egypt.