NISSAN MOTOR COMPANY - Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. (DFL) and the City of Xiangyang yesterday announced that the Xiangyang plant in Hubei Province, China, has been selected as the local production site for Infiniti. The plant, operated by Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., Nissan's joint venture company in China, will manufacture two Infiniti models starting in 2014.
DFL will invest RMB 2 billion (US$ 315 million)* in the Xiangyang plant to meet growing Chinese customer demand. Production capacity at the plant, which currently produces Teana and Murano, will be increased from 130K to 250K units.
"The localization of Infiniti at our Xiangyang plant is a significant milestone for us," said Kimiyasu Nakamura, president of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd (DFL). "It proves that we are fully capable of producing luxury vehicles of the highest quality standards here in China, at the same level of quality as the Tochigi plant, its mother plant, in Japan," he added.
The Infiniti brand was first introduced to China in 2007, and continues to strengthen its product lineup and expand its sales network to satisfy customers in the growing Chinese luxury segment.
"Local production will allow our valued Chinese customers more access to our products and enhance our brand awareness," added Allen Lu, Managing Director of Infiniti Business Unit, China. "I am confident this new development is a key step to reach our aggressive global sales target of 500,000 units by 2016."
The two models to be produced at the Xiangyang plant will be named at a later date.
* Amounts of dollars are translated for the convenience of the reader at foreign exchange rates of 0.157 dollar/ yuan.