By Chang-Ran Kim
PARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co President Carlos Ghosn on Friday dismissed talk that profits at Japan's third-largest automaker would peak this year, saying growth would remain robust led by a strong U.S. market.
"I hear a lot of people say that 2002 will be the peak and then profitability will be going down. I can tell you right now they are wrong," Ghosn told a small group of reporters at the Paris Motor Show.
Ghosn said that in 2003 Nissan would release many new profitable products such as the Maxima, Quest and large sport-utility vehicles in its most profitable market, the United States, and that should easily drive profits higher.
While some auto executives have been cautious about the outlook of the U.S. market after two surprisingly strong years, Ghosn said he expected that market, along with China's, to remain "very strong". He said Europe would be stagnant at best while Japan would remain downhill.
But even if the U.S. market turns out to be weaker than expected, Nissan will remain committed to its promises under the three-year "Nissan 180" plan, he said.
"If the U.S. market is strong, then that would be good for us. If the yen is weak, we will be lucky. But our commitments will stand regardless of market conditions."
Nissan, owned 44.4 percent by France's Renault , has promised to add one million new vehicle sales by the end of March 2005, secure a global operating profit margin of eight percent, and reduce to zero its debt in automotive operations.
Ghosn added that for this year, Nissan's profitability in Europe would rise despite a declining market, with more sustainable growth expected on the back of a line-up of attractive new products, such as the new Micra subcompact car unveiled at the motor show on Thursday.
So far this year, however, Nissan's sales in Western Europe have dropped 7.1 percent to 241,180 units compared with the same period in 2001. In the whole of last year it sold 483,000 vehicles.
Globally, though, Nissan's sales are up 10 percent in the first five months of the business year which began in April.
Ghosn declined to say whether the strong performance so far meant Nissan's earnings for the 2002/03 business year could exceed forecasts, saying any new forecasts would be disclosed when Nissan announces its first-half results on October 23.
Last year, Nissan powered to its second year of record profits, putting its painful but successful restructuring led by Ghosn behind it. For the current year to next March, it forecasts a 13 percent jump in group operating profits to another record of 553 billion yen, and a 2.1 percent rise in net profit to 380 billion yen.