NISSAN Motor’s global headquarters building is in Yokohama, Japan. — REUTERS

NISSAN Philippines, Inc. said it is expanding its dealership network in the country this year to continue growing beyond the industry average.
Nissan Philippines President and Managing Director Ramesh Narasimhan said there are eight to 10 more dealerships under construction this year, which will add to the 44 existing branches.
“Our objective is to have far better access to our customers and for our customers to better access to Nissan products. So, yes we are expanding our footprint in the Philippines,” Mr. Narasimhan said during a media round table Tuesday evening.
Sales of Nissan in 2018 stood at 34,952 units, up 40% from 2017, as the company weathered the industry-wide decline.
Mr. Narasimhan said Nissan’s average growth for the past three years has been at 58%, much higher compared to the industry’s 20% average annual growth during the period.
Driving last year’s performance is the Nissan Navara, which accounted for 46.2% of sales or 16,140 units.
“That segment actually grew because of the excise tax eliminations, so the pricing of the pickup went down. So the segment grew, having said that, [in the] financial year, April to December we grew something like 90% plus in Navarra versus the prior year. Industry grew 30%, if you exclude Nissan, the industry grew 15%. So, Nissan had 50% impact in the growth in the segment,” Mr. Narasimhan said.
“We could have sold more but we did not have enough supply last year so we could have done better,” he added.
This year, Nissan said it will push sales of its core models, as well as new models such as 370Z Nismo and Juke Nismo.
The Nissan executive is optimistic the auto industry will recover this year, after a slump in 2018.
“Now people are getting used to the new tax structure that impacted us last year. The economic policies are slowly taking shape. The infrastructure investment continues. And with the election year, it bodes well for the automotive industry this year. So I’m expecting certainly 10% growth, if not higher, for 2019. And of course our objective is to grow higher beyond that,” Mr. Narasimhan added. — Janina C. Lim