Nissan Motor Co., Japan's second-largest carmaker, said it might export trucks made with Dongfeng Motor Corp., the first time it's making vehicles in China for overseas markets.

The Dongfeng-brand trucks Nissan makes with Dongfeng Motor, in central China's Wuhan city "have export competitiveness and we are planning" to export them, said the Japanese carmaker's chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga.

Nissan, which has invested US$2 billion in China making compact cars and sedans, is using its production capacity to export vehicles, as the sales growth in Asia's second-biggest economy slowed last year. By exporting from China, Nissan can cut its costs and increase the productivity of its factories.

"Dongfeng trucks will have cost advantage as there is more labor needed in truck assembling and labor costs are relatively lower in China," said Paul Gao, a principal at McKinsey & Co. in Shanghai. Wages probably made up between 10 percent and 20 percent of production costs, Gao said.

Nissan and Dongfeng make Sunny and Tiida compact cars, Teana and Bluebird sedans. The two companies would probably export light commercial vehicles and mid-sized trucks and buses to emerging markets such as South East Asia, South America and Africa, Gao said. The venture expected to sell a total of 620,000 units of cars and trucks in 2007, Shiga said.

(Shenzhen Daily July 29, 2005)