Nissan: No rush over eco-cars

Nissan: No rush over eco-cars

Prapat Choeychom, a senior vice-president of Nissan Motor (Thailand), says the company has no plans to start the second phase of
its eco-car project this year or next, putting the focus mainly on upgrading its production line of existing eco-car models.
Prapat Choeychom, a senior vice-president of Nissan Motor (Thailand), says the company has no plans to start the second phase of its eco-car project this year or next, putting the focus mainly on upgrading its production line of existing eco-car models.

Despite several eco-car makers winning Board of investment (BoI) privileges for their second-phase projects, production is unlikely to kick off this year or next, says a Japanese manufacturer.

Prapat Choeychom, a senior vice-president of Nissan Motor (Thailand), said in Tuesday most eco-car manufacturers had introduced new models in 2012 and 2013, and it normally took four or five years to design updated ones.

"Unlike newcomers that can start production in the new phase any time, we believe it is highly unlikely that existing eco-car makers will kick off their new models under the second scheme this year or next, as it's not worth the massive investment," he said.

Thailand was the first country in the region to introduce an eco-car scheme, attracting investment of 28.8 billion baht when it was launched in 2007.

Mitsubishi, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Suzuki participated in the first phase, with combined annual capacity of 585,000 vehicles.

Those five car makers had produced 992,907 eco-cars as of last year, with Nissan making 230,000 March (2010) and Almera (2012) eco-car models.

The government early last year launched the second phase of its eco-car scheme. A total of 10 car makers including the five existing ones officially applied for the second phase, which like the first phase carries BoI privileges.

The five newcomers are Mazda, Ford, General Motors, SAIC Motor-CP and Volkswagen.

Nissan plans to spend 6.86 billion baht to make 123,000 eco-cars and 2 million auto parts a year at its Bang Na-Trat Road factory run by Nissan Thailand.

Nissan has no plans to start the second phase of its eco-car project this year or next, putting the focus mainly on upgrading its production line of existing eco-car models to accommodate the new excise tax, Mr Prapat said. 

Spending on the production line will be 100-200 million baht.

Nissan's March and Almera eco-cars now have carbon dioxide emissions of 120 grammes per kilometre.

The new excise tax for vehicles, due to take effect early next year, is expected to mark another turning point for the automotive industry, as the new rate will make retail prices of eco-friendly vehicles such as eco-cars and hybrids cheaper and more attractive.

The new tax regime will be based on carbon dioxide emissions, E85 gasohol compatibility and fuel efficiency instead of engine size like under the current tax structure.

The excise tax on vehicles with carbon dioxide emissions below 100g per km will be cut to 12-14% from 17% for eco-cars.

However, the 10% tax rate for hybrid vehicles will remain unchanged.

Nissan expects a marginal sales increase of 1.32% this year to 60,000 vehicles from last year's 59,220, itself a decline of 39.7% from 2013.

Nissan's market share declined to 6.7% last year from 8.3% in 2013.

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