Nissan Sales Dive 14% In April

The Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.'s April sales dived 14.0for Nissan. He said that the company expected some
percent on a daily sales rate basis to 61,179 unitssoftness in the first half of the month, due to the
compared with last year's 77,102 units sold. TheEaster holiday and the end of tax season. "But the
company's sales decline points to fewer selling days inmarket didn't come back" in the second half of April as
April 2007 as compared to 2006.Nissan expected, he added.
The Nissan North America, Inc. (NNA) reported salesSlow truck sales continued to injure the Nissan brand,
of 71,124 units in April and that is an 11.1 percent cutand now the company is dealing with a unforeseen
from the previous year. The NNA sales decreaseddecline in passenger car sales. "What has been just a
14.0 percent over last year. The Infiniti Division posted atruck weakness in the market appears to have
sales gain of 12.0 percent with 9,945 units sold, ascrossed over into the car side of the business,"
compared with last April's 9,618 units. The all-new GBradshaw noted.
Sedan contributed sales of 4,491 units, an increase ofNissan for the fiscal year 2006, ending March 31, 2007
71.9 percent over last April.filed its results with the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The
This April, Nissan bumpers failed to protect theresults include net revenues of 10.4686 trillion yen,
company from sales crash. For the month of April,operating profit of 776.9 billion yen, ordinary profit of
Nissan and Infiniti sales totaled 71,124 and that figure is761.1 billion yen, consolidated net income of 460.8 billion
an 11.1 percent decrease over last year's April sales ofyen, and the operating profit margin came to 7.4
86,720 units. In North America, the NNA operationspercent.
include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and"2006 did not boost our results towards achieving the
corporate financing, sales and marketing, distributionobjectives of Nissan Value-Up," said the Nissan
and manufacturing.President and CEO, Carlos Ghosn. "However, we
In the United States, Nissan auto sales dropped by 18believe that the commitments are within the potential
percent on unadjusted basis. North American Salesof the company and we remain focused to deliver
Chief Brad Bradshaw said Tuesday that the U.S. salesthem completely. Accordingly, we have decided to
for the Nissan and Infiniti brands equaled 71,124 vehiclesextend the period for delivering all the Nissan Value-Up
and that is down by 18 percent compared with thecommitments by one year."
same period in 2006 on a volume basis.Ghosn noted that tangible progress had been made on
The company's sales fell eleven percent and thethe four key breakthroughs in Nissan Value-Up. The
figures are adjusted for the fact there were twoInfiniti luxury brand continues to expand around the
fewer selling days in April 2007 compared to the priorglobe with its launch to Russia in 2006 and into China
year. The Japanese automaker said a 20 percentand Ukraine in 2007. The Infiniti brand will also be
decline at its mainstream Nissan brand or a 14 percentoffered across Western Europe by 2008.
decline on an adjusted basis. The sixth largestStressing on the outlook for this fiscal year, Ghosn said
automaker worldwide noted that the luxury Infiniti brandthat the fiscal 2007 will be a better year for Nissan
registered a four percent increase in volume, or a 12than the year 2006. However, the rising raw material
percent increase when adjusted for selling days.costs, energy prices and interest rates, fluctuating
Additionally, Nissan brand sold 61,179 vehicles, whileforeign exchange rates, high level of incentives, and an
Infiniti delivered 9,945.escalating number of troubled competitors and
In an interview, Bradshaw said it was a "difficult month"suppliers, would remain as business risks for this year.