Nissan will make EVs in China, export them across the world

Nissan is looking to develop and manufacture future EVs in China, according to Masashi Matsuyama, the company's vice president and president of Nissan China.

These EVs will then be exported to global markets from China. If you're wondering which markets those will be, Nissan is apparently looking at BYD for inspiration - it wants to offer these Chinese-built EVs in the same countries and territories where BYD is currently present outside of China.

Nissan has also announced that it's going to establish a joint research center with China's Tsinghua University next year, which will focus on EV R&D, including charging infrastructure and battery recycling. Nissan president and chief executive Makoto Uchida said: "We hope that this collaboration will help us gain a deeper understanding of the Chinese market and develop strategies that better meet the needs of customers in China".

China accounted for just over 20% of Nissan's sales in the first ten months of this year, down from more than 33% in the same period last year, so clearly something needs to be done for the brand to remain relevant over there. The plan seems to be - develop vehicles that will appeal to the Chinese, and then export those to places where other EVs that have been initially developed for the Chinese market have been successful in recent years. Benefitting from the lower production costs in China is the icing on the cake.

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