Cairo, 9 Nov. 2006 - A year and a half passed since the start of Nissan Motor Egypt operations, during which the giant company had achieved a credible reputation in the market and delivered its promises as per its plans. In further confirming its commitment to the automotive market in Egypt, Nissan Motor Egypt launched its new 4 x 4 SUV Nissan X-Trail 2500 cc assembled in its factory located in 6 October Industrial City.
During the past 18 months Nissan Motor Egypt had lots of offerings to the Egyptian market beginning in April 2005 with the introduction of its locally produced pick up as well as the Japanese Nissan Sunny. Later towards the end of the year the company introduced the Urvan micro bus which achieved sound success in its segment.
The beginning of 2006 witnessed the introduction of the Nissan Sunny 1600 cc, which is assembled locally from 3 different models (EX Saloon with manual and automatic transmission and Super Saloon with automatic transmission). A further offering from Nissan Motor Egypt in Q3 of 2006 featured the stylish technologically advanced Nissan Tiida 1600 cc in hatchback and sedan, followed by the king of all terrain SUV; Nissan Patrol.
To wrap up 2006 on a very positive note, Nissan Motor Egypt rolls out another surprise by conquering the SUV segment in the Egyptian market with the introduction of the locally assembled Nissan X-Trail. The new car will shift expectations in this segment, combining power generated from its developed 2500 cc engine with maximized fuel efficiency and comfort of sedan cars. This combination of features makes it the best companion on the city roads and off-road tracks alike.
With this latest addition to the Nissan line up, the company further expands its business in Egypt in a step to establishing it as a manufacturing centre for the Middle East and North Africa. Kimiasu Nakamura, Senior Vice President, Nissan Motor Ltd. said: The X-Trail we will launch today is the most global vehicle among Nissan lineup which covers around 170 countries world wide, sold more than 150k unit per year (159k/CY05, 192k/CY04) and accumulated volume up until now is around 550k unit. We hope that the local production of X-Trail will mark a further boost for Nissan Motor Egypt business, enhance its position in the Egyptian market and pave the way for producing more interesting Nissan models for the Egyptian consumer.
Nakamura further confirmed that this big step contributes to the Nissan global performance under the Nissan Value Up plan, which aims to reach global annual sales of 4.2 million units by the end of 2008, maintain an operating profit at the top level among global automakers for each of the three years of the plan and maintain a minimum return of 20% on invested capital.
Nissan Motor Egypt Managing Director, Mitsuji Sato, further confirmed the companys effective participation in the Nissan Value Up plan which marks an important phase in Nissans history and aims at the overall global expansion of Nissan business.
From his side, Mustafa Hussein, general manager of sales and marketing at Nissan Motor Egypt reassured that the company will expand its distributors network to ensure best services in sales through 20 showrooms (with 8 new additions), after sales through 12 workshops (with 5 new additions) and 13 outlets for spare parts out of which 11 are ready.
Nissan Motors Company had previously announced in June 2004 that it will directly manage its operations in Egypt with an investment of 60 million dollars for acquiring and renewing the assembly plant, in addition to boosting the sales, marketing and distribution in Egypt. In a period of 18 months Nissan made great achievements by refurbishing the 6 October industrial city plant raising its annual production capacity to 17,000 units. The number of employees has also gone up from 245 in April 2005 to 350 currently, which confirms the contribution of Nissan Motor Egypt in developing the automotive industry in Egypt with a potential to offer much more to this growing market.
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