Nissan Spain Adds Workers, Shifts to Meet LCV Demand

HANNOVER, Germany – Nissan sets an ambitious deadline of 2016 for increasing its share of the global light-commercial-vehicle market from 6% to 8%.

“We are going to do it with innovative products and (by) growing in different global markets,” Daniel (Dany) Boulenger, global manager of Nissan’s LCV business, says at the recent CV show here.

Spain plays a key role in the Japanese automaker’s strategy, more as a producer than as part of the recovering European market.

“In 2014 we have launched three new models, and all of them assembled in our Spanish facilities: eNV200, NT400 and NT500, which we exhibit here in Hannover,” Boulenger says.

“And despite Spain (being) a small market at a global scale, it is a key country in that project as, excepting the NV400 van model, which is assembled in Batilly (France), the rest of the Nissan LCV range is assembled in Spain.”

Nissan launched Spanish production in 1983 with its Patrol all-wheel-drive model. It now assembles the NV200, eNV200 and Navara pickup in Barcelona, while NT400 (formerly Cabstar) small trucks up to 3.5 tons and NT500 trucks from 3.5 to 7.5 tons are built in Avila.

The automaker has achieved a 6% share of the global LCV market by selling more than 1 million LCVs globally in the past three years. Boulenger believes the 8% target, included in Nissan’s Power 88 business plan, can be hit as major markets continue their recovery.

“Don’t forget that LCVs generate in this moment nearly 20% of the global Nissan turnover,” he notes.

Electric vehicles are a key element in Nissan’s plans. Boulenger cites as example the electric version of the NV200, the new eNV200, which has been selected as the standard for the Barcelona taxi fleet.

“The eNV200 has been completely conceived and developed in Japan, without any compromise in dimensions or payload capacity and with a work range adequate for its use,” Boulenger says.

Asked why Madrid has approved Nissan’s Leaf EV and not the eNV200 as a taxi vehicle, Boulenger replies it is a homologation problem that will be solved soon: “Madrid regulation for taxi vehicles forces us to change the dimension of a small side step in the eNV200.”

The Nissan executive denies LCV sales in Spain are lower than expected and that NT500 models assembled in Avila mainly are produced for Renault Trucks, which markets them as its new D-series. “Our sales in Spain are in line with our forecasts and I can say that two-thirds of the Avila production is sold with (the) Nissan badge,” Boulenger says.

Discussing future products, Boulenger says Nissan has begun developing an electric version of its NT400 light truck in Japan, adding, “We have been encouraged to undertake this project by three important Japanese customers.

“Moreover, we will launch a new 1-ton pickup to replace the current Navara in 2015. This new pickup will also be assembled in our Barcelona plant,” he says. Launch initially was planned for September, “but as the current Navara continues enjoying a strong demand and the Barcelona capacity can be occupied with other activities, we decided to delay some months the launch of the new 1-ton pickup.”

The “other activities” making claims on capacity at Barcelona are increased NV200 volumes and the strong reception for the new Pulsar in Europe.

The plant, however, is running only one assembly line while the second is being refurbished for production of the upcoming 1-ton pickup. In response, Nissan has hired 686 new workers for a third weekday shift. A special weekend shift manufacturing 2,000 extra NV200s will be added in January after workers have undergone training.

Both new shifts will run at least until March.