Nissan may consider building cars in Middle East to raise capacity

Marrakesh: Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Japan's Nissan Motor and France's Renault SA, Tuesday said manufacturing cars in the Middle East was "a possibility".

Nissan needed to build up capacity to meet rising demand from emerging markets.

"This year is going to be a record year for Nissan in terms of sales, crossing four million cars easily, and we're going to have to build more capacities," Ghosn said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.

Growing demand

Ghosn said the car giant was expanding its production capabilities in China and India but this wouldn't be sufficient as the demand from emerging markets continued to grow.

"We see growth mainly in emerging markets and the Middle East is one of them," he said. "In the case of Nissan, for which the Arab countries and in particular the Gulf countries are a big market we're approaching a situation where we do not have enough capacity."

Asked whether he would consider setting up additional capacities in the Middle East, Ghosn said: "It is a possibility, yes".

"We're going to need capacity," he said