The chief executive of Nissan has warned that rapid production at Chinese automakers is putting pressure on international manufacturers as they struggle to gain market share.
Makoto Uchida issued a warning as Japanese brands in particular would lose customers to fierce Chinese rivals.
“Agile” local automakers in China, the world’s largest car market, are pushing rivals to speed up production, he told the Financial Times’ Future of the Car summit on Wednesday.
“We shouldn’t just relax and sit back. Delivery times are very flexible,” Uchida said, adding that Chinese manufacturers are showing “tremendous strength.”
The time it takes for Chinese manufacturers to bring cars to market is “much faster than we had previously expected,” he said. “We need alignment.”
Chinese automakers are making a big push at home and abroad with competitively priced electric vehicles, leaving some international players behind.
Japanese brands, including Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, have been among the hardest hit.
Toyota said it would accelerate its electric vehicle lineup in China after sales in the country fell in 2022 for the first time in a decade.
Nissan, which reports full-year earnings on Thursday, had forecast in February that sales in China would drop 24 percent to just over 1 million vehicles in the 12 months to the end of March.
That will drive sales in China, previously its biggest market, below North America. The group has a passenger car joint venture in China with Dongfeng Motor.
“How we make things in China for China . . . will be key,” Uchida told the FT summit.
Chinese groups such as NIO and BYD also want to compete with European brands on their own turf, another challenge to companies struggling to bring down production costs to make electric vehicles accessible to consumers.
“The biggest danger is the Chinese coming in . . . because they come in with very competitive prices and very good vehicles,” Linda Jackson, chief executive of the Stellantis Peugeot brand, told the FT summit.
Separately, Uchida said Nissan was still in discussions with the U.K. government on how to save production at its Sunderland plant, where the company is seeking help to cope with high energy prices. It also has the high cost of dealing with suppliers.
Uchida said Sunderland was “an important factory” but the group needed “to be competitive, especially in terms of supply chain”.
Uchida and Renault Chief Executive Luca de Meo both said on Wednesday that talks to reset the long-troubled alliance’s capital structure were progressing well, although the final signing of the new deal had dragged on after being outlined in February.
Uchida said there were no “specific obstacles”, but added that the group needed to ensure that the redesigned partnership, which could include Nissan’s investment in Renault’s electric car unit Ampere, was reflected in the final version as “beneficial to both parties”.
De Meo, also speaking at the FT Auto Summit, said Renault Group could consider launching its Alpine sports car brand after the Ampere, which is due to go on sale later this year.
“Alpine may have the potential to do an (IPO), but it will take time to show investors the strength of the project,” he said.