Nissan lowers US sales forecast due to economy

Dominique Thormann, senior vice president for administration and finance at Nissan North America, said Thursday that the company has lowered its industry forecast from 15.5 million vehicles to 15.2 million vehicles for its fiscal year, which began April 1 and will end March 31, 2009.

Some automakers, including General Motors Corp., have speculated that the current quarter will be the lowest point this year and the industry will rebound in the second half because of federal stimulus checks and lower interest rates. But Thormann said Nissan is predicting a depressed industry into 2009.

"What we're not seeing is an immediate rebound, and if there's going to be a rebound it looks like it's going to be of rather limited effect," he said.

Nissan said Wednesday that its January-March profit rose 67 percent to $1.3 billion in the January-March period. But it warned that its full-year profit will likely plunge 30 percent to $3.3 billion because of rising material costs, high oil prices and the weak dollar, which hurts earnings in yen.

But Thormann said it's not all bad news for Nissan, which managed to increase its U.S. market share to 7 percent in the first four months of this year even as U.S. sales were falling. Thormann said Nissan was prepared for the shift to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and crossovers. Sales of its subcompact Versa jumped 24 percent through April.

"When your market share goes up in a down market, then somehow you're doing something right," Thormann said.

Thormann also expanded on Nissan's announcement Wednesday that it will have an electric car in the U.S. by 2010. Thormann said that car will be primarily for fleets, and that Nissan expects to have a mass-market electric car ready for global sales by 2012.

Nissan has set up a joint venture with electronics maker NEC Corp. to produce lithium-ion batteries for the cars.

Nissan had been reluctant to join the gas-electric hybrid race because it couldn't make a good business case for those vehicles, Thormann said. Electric cars offer more promise since they are emission-free, which would help Nissan meet tightening environmental standards worldwide, he said. There is also a growing demand for electric cars that didn't exist five years ago, he said.