MOTORING NEWS - Nissan Motor Company's global sales and production rose to record levels in the period between April 2016 and March 2017, driven by the popularity of crossovers such as the Rogue and Qashqai, as well as the success of models offering autonomous drive and connected car technology.
Sales for the 12 months prior to 31 March increased for a fourth consecutive year, gaining 4% (5 642 381 vehicles). Production increased 9% to 5 695 774 units. Sales and output also set single-month records during March.
"We are very proud of the strong customer response to our products in key markets that has allowed sales and production to reach another record level," said executive vice president Daniele Schillaci, Nissan's global head of marketing and sales. "Our crossovers performed particularly well, with the Rogue contributing to record sales in the US and the Qashqai helping us achieve the same feat in China and Europe. We look forward to building on this success."
In Japan, Nissan introduced the e-Power system to the Note compact car and began offering ProPILOT autonomous driving technology for the Serena minivan. This helped boost sales of those models by 30% and 50% respectively.
Nissan's global production in March surpassed the previous year's results for the 14th consecutive month, setting a record for a single month. Production in Japan surpassed the previous year's results for the eighth consecutive month.
Production outside Japan surpassed the previous year's results for the second consecutive month, setting a record for a single month. Global production for the period April 2016 to March 2017 surpassed the previous year's results for the second consecutive year, setting a record.
Production in Japan surpassed the previous year's results for the first time in five years, reaching 1 million units for the first time in three years. Production outside Japan surpassed the previous year's results for the eighth consecutive year, setting a record and in Mexico, the UK and China, production surpassed the previous year's, also setting records for the April to March period.
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