Page 60 - PRAGMATIC STRATEGY

For most of the
period since the start
of the financial crisis
the pound (Sterling)
has been historically
weak against other
key currencies,
especially the euro. It
may not be surprising
therefore, that much
of the Nissan
production (80%) is
shipped abroad
especially Europe,
where Nissan
continued to increase
its European dealer
network, adding
some 1,000 new
dealerships between 2006 and 2014 in an effort to overtake Toyota and achieve its
aim of to be the leader in the markets where it is operating.

In August 2012 Nissan announced an ambitious growth strategy for the following
six years where it aimed to boost its global market share to 8% by March 2017
which would translate into sales of a little over 7m vehicles. Such sales volume
would represent a jump of at least 72% from the 4.19 million vehicles Nissan sold
in the fiscal year ended March 2011.

These new targets would mean that Nissan’s expected profit margin of 11% would
far exceed its pre-financial crisis level of 7%. Market penetration would
furthermore, be Nissan's best ever, beating its peak global share of 6.6% in 1991.
These expectations were based on Nissan’s belief that industry-wide auto demand
would increase to at least 90 million vehicles by the completion of its business plan
in March 2017.