Nissan announces 5 per cent increase in European sales

At the halfway point of the 2012 Calendar Year Nissan is bucking the trend of depressed demand in the European car market by posting a 5 per cent rise in sales over 2011.

Overall customer demand in Europe for the January-June period is around 4.5 per cent
or 428,000 units down on 2011, caused in part by continuing economic uncertainty in the south of the region.

But Nissan announced sales of more than 366,000 units for the first six months of the year, over 18,000 units up compared to the same period in 2011.

This achievement is also reflected in Nissan's overall share of the European market, which has climbed to an average of above 3.9 per cent for the first six months.

A strong June has supported this performance. Nissan sold 65,626 units last month representing a 14 per cent improvement on June 2011 and delivering a monthly share of 3.9 per cent (0.6 per cent up year-on-year).

The popularity of Nissan's Crossover family remains as strong as ever. In June alone Nissan sold more than 40,000 Crossovers - mainly of the Sunderland-produced Qashqai and Juke, representing a 23 per cent year-on-year increase.

And Nissan looks set to continue its dominance of the Crossover sector in the coming years. An all-new Qashqai has already been confirmed for Sunderland Plant, while Nissan will open a new chapter in its long-standing sporting heritage by launching the head-turning Juke Nismo early next year.

Juke Nismo, which fittingly made its world premiere at last month's Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, will be the first in a series of Nismo-badged cars that will feature enhanced styling, increased performance and sporty handling.

Nissan's success in the passenger car segment was also mirrored in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) sector. Despite an overall dip in demand of over 3 per cent for LCVs, Nissan increased its year-on-year sales and improved its segment share to 3.1 per cent through sales of the Spanish-built NV200, Navara Pick-up.

Top performing markets for Nissan in June included Russia with over 14,000 sales and the UK with more than 11,000 sales, while France posted the largest market share increase of any major European country, achieving a total of 3.7 per cent (0.7 per cent up on June 2011).

"The difficulties facing the European car market in 2012 are well-documented. Therefore achieving a 5 per cent increase in sales volume at the halfway stage gives us confidence that we are offering the right products that appeal to, and meet the needs of, our European customers," said Guillaume Cartier, Nissan Vice-President for Sales Operations in Europe.

"Nissan designs, develops and produces an increasing number of vehicles within the region. More than 80% of our sales are of models manufactured at our plants in the UK, Spain and Russia. This gives us great affinity with our customer base and allows us to closely align our operation to market shifts," he added.

"There is no doubt that the second half of the year will continue to pose challenges for all manufacturers, but I'm confident that the strength of our model line-up, which is also one of the broadest within Europe, will result in another successful year for Nissan."

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