Nissan production and sales results for May 2002

Tokyo - Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today reported production, sales and export figures for May.  For the month, global production increased 13.7%, while total unit sales for the three main regions, including Japan (excluding mini-cars), North America and Europe were up 1.0%.

Production
Nissan's global production in May increased for the third straight month to 229,020, up 13.7% from a year ago.

Domestic production in May was 108,178 units, up 16.5% from a year ago, marking the third consecutive year-on-year increase.  The strong demand for the new March in Japan, Infiniti G35 in North America, and X‑TRAIL mainly in Europe drove the increase.

Nissan's overseas production in May marked its best May in history totaling 120,842 units, up 11.3% from May 2001, representing the fourth consecutive year-on-year increase.

Nissan's production in the U.S. increased 32.3% on continued strong demand for the new Altima.  In Mexico, production increased by 15.5% from last year, as the production of a new compact car Platina ramped up.  In Europe, UK production was up 10.0% following the introduction of the new Primera.  In Spain, production decreased 50.4% compared to last year due to the discontinuation of older products including the Serena.

In other regions, production increased 39.3% in May.

Sales
Nissan's domestic registrations for May increased 6.6% to 54,639 units, representing the second consecutive year-on-year increase. This was due to the strong sales of the new March with 13,888 units, and strong demand for the new Elgrand and Wingroad.  Nissan's domestic market share rose to 19.2%, 1.5 points higher than May 2001.  Nissan's domestic sales including mini-cars increased 16.1% to 59,505 units.  Sales for the new Moco launched in April achieved 4,865 units.

Nissan's sales in the U.S. increased 1.6% from May 2001.  The award-winning Altima continues to shatter records yielding its best May ever, and the new G35 luxury sport sedan posted sales of 3,298 units.  In Canada, sales were up 13.2%.  In Mexico, sales increased 38.8%, as the company saw a strong demand for the new compact car Platina. The result gave Nissan the No.1 market share in Mexico for the first time in six months.

Nissan's sales in Europe decreased by 6.1% from May 2001, roughly in line with the reduction in total industry volume.

Exports from Japan
Nissan's exports in May increased for the fourth straight month to 47,404 units, up 41.0%.  The overall increase is due primarily to strong exports of the X‑TRAIL to numerous overseas markets, G35 to North America and strong demand for vehicles in the Middle East.

Global Production by Country

*1 Others include production in Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines and South Africa, excluding CKD production.

Global Unit Sales by Main Market (Region)

*2 Japan sales are categorized into passenger cars and commercial vehicles based on chassis.
*3 U.S. sales are based on retail including Hawaii.
*4 Canada and Mexico sales are based on retail.
*5 North America sales are based on retail including Guam, Saipan and other islands.
*6 Europe sales are based on retail in the whole Europe including Turkey and Israel from the April 2002 results.

Vehicle Exports from Japan

###