Nissan wants to export EV (and other cars) from China

It seems we might be able to expect more electric vehicles (EVs) to come from Nissan in the not-so-distant future but from China.

In a report by Asia Nikkei, Masahi Matsuyama, vice president of Nissan Motor & president of Nissan China, said that the automaker is considering exporting its upcoming lineup of electrified vehicles (as well as its existing internal combustion vehicles) manufactured and developed in the PRC for global markets. This comes after the automaker said that it would sell China-developed EVs globally after they struck a deal with the PRC's top university to take advantage of local resources to accelerate its research & development (R&D) on electrification.

This will allow Nissan to exploit the country's lower production costs while increasing the manufacturing capacity of its factories in the PRC. Moreover, this will allow Nissan to offer more vehicles to other markets without pulling additional resources or funds.

The recent move by Nissan is the latest trend being done by automakers such as BMW, Ford, and Tesla which have also been expanding their exports of China-made vehicles. In the Philippine setting alone, both BMW and Ford get the iX3 and Territory crossovers from China, respectively. Even Kia Philippines sources the Stonic and recently facelifted Seltos from the People's Republic.

Aside from exporting China-developed cars to other markets globally, Nissan also announced it will put up a joint research center with China's leading Tsinghua University next year. The center will focus on the research and development of EVs, including charging infrastructure and recycling of batteries.

“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,” said Makoto Uchida, president & CEO of Nissan Motor.

With Nissan looking to export both ICE and electrified vehicles from China, perhaps the company may be looking at offering Chinese-made Nissan models to Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines. Currently, Nissan Philippines doesn't sell any vehicles that are made in the PRC; if they haven't changed their sourcing, the Nissan models in the country are from their factories in Thailand (Navara, Terra, Kicks, Almera), Indonesia (Livina), Japan (GT-R, Z, NV350, Patrol), and even the UK (Leaf).

Could this development lead to Nissan offering the new Sylphy and X-Trail models since both vehicles have been absent from the local lineup for quite some timenbsp;

Do you think it's a good sign that Nissan Philippines could source vehicles (and EVs) from China in the future? Let us know in the comments.