The Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) Business Unit (BU) within automotive conglomerate Nissan with 519,507 units sales, globally in FY 2007, has charted an exciting growth story in recent years. The LCV (upto 8 tons GVW) BU was constituted in 2004 to revitalise the specific needs of Nissan's LCV market worldwide. Its performance has exceeded initial expectations and promises to be an integral and vital part of Nissan's global growth in the coming years.
The growth story began in 2005, during it’s Value Up mid term business plan where LCVs were identified as one of four pillars within the Value Up Plan, a strategy for the years 2005-2007, aimed at promoting sustainable profitable growth at Nissan. The Nissan LCV BU Value Up business plan commitments to grow volumes by 40%, and to double the COP margin to 8% were delivered a year ahead of schedule, in 2006. The current mid term business plan known as Nissan GT 2012 (where G stands for growth and T for trust) which was announced in May 2008 by Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., bold targets have been set for the LCV BU once again. During this plan period the LCV BU has been set targets to double the revenue generated by LCV sales in FY 2012 in comparison to 2007 and achieve top level customer satisfaction performance in the global LCV market.
Today, the LCV business at Nissan is central to its growth plans for the future both in the short term and in the long term. Currently, Nissan LCVs are in 73 per cent of the world markets and contribute to roughly 20 per cent of the global sales of Nissan. In line with the new GT 2012 plan commitment, Nissan has put plans in place for extensive market expansion. Nissan will start LCV sales in Russia, in September 2008, in the US in 2010 and in India in 2011. The strategic vision at Nissan places LCVs as one of the key drivers of growth and several initiatives, which speak of the parent company's long- term plans for the LCV business have been identified.
Investments to establish the foundations of a truly global business with seven regional LCV BUs in Japan, Europe, South Africa, US, Mexico, Middle East, China and the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) region have already been made. The regional BUs have been set up with a view to provide the contours of a sharply focused business capable of delivering products and services attuned to regional customer needs. Excluding the Middle East, Nissan LCV has production in all those regions and routinely leverages local talent to feed the facilities. (in the US Nissan plans to start production and sales of LCVs in 2010).
This has allowed it to capitalise on the strengths of globalisation by sourcing talent, manufacturing capacities and R&D which in turn lead to greater efficiency and economies of scale.
At the heart of Nissan's GT 2012 commitment to growth in the LCV global market is a substantial investment in new products. It plans to launch 13 all new products during the period 2007-2012. The new NP 300(a makeover of the present Frontier) launched in February 2008 is a tangible example of the company’s promise to provide its discerning business customers with an affordable, energy efficient, and eco- friendly, one-box business partner. The NV200 concept car showcased at the Tokyo Motor Show last year, provides a glimpse into Nissan's future product design direction, which places customer aspirations at the forefront of its development process.
With an eye to the needs of the future, Nissan LCV BU has also entered an alliance with German conglomerate ZF for manufacturing hybrid LCV technology. Partnerships with Renault Trucks in Europe, Isuzu, Mazda and Mitsubishi Motors constitute its proactive OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) strategy.
