Infiniti's New Chinese Market Strategy

SHANGHAI - July 31, 2007: "The Chinese market is playing a more and more important role in the world auto market, especially to Infiniti, the premium unit of Japanese automaker Nissan," said Yasuaki Hashimoto, Corporate Vice President of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., recently.

Compared with Lexus and Acura, Infiniti is a new comer in the Chinese Auto Market.

As one of the top three premium brands in Japan, more than 95% of Infiniti models are sold in North America. In recent years, the U.S. market has been sluggish, especially in the high-end market. Last year, Infiniti had sales of 120,000 units, a decrease of 20,000 units compared to that of 2005. However, in the booming Chinese market, Infiniti's sales remain flat, even though they have introduced several new models into the market.

Nissan launched its global strategy in 2005 to focus on the newly developed market such as China, Russia and South Korea.

In the Chinese market, Lexus and Acura have had dissimilar sales performance, but it is still too early to comment on the newcomer's performance. In the first half of this year, Infiniti sales had reached more than 10,000 units.

According to the Group, Infiniti will set up more than 10 franchised dealers in China this year and 15 dealers by the end of next year.

For more information about the burgeoning auto industry in China please visit http://www.gasgoo.com/Autobiz/list/7/China-News.html