Nissan Considers Building Electric-Car Plant in Guangzhou, China

Japanese Company Considers Opening Factory in Southern China to Build All-Electric Vehicles
By NORIHIKO SHIROUZU
GUANGZHOU, China - Nissan Motor Co. said it will weigh plans to make all-electric cars in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, as the Japanese auto maker steps up its electric-vehicle activity in China's fast-growing car market.
A senior Nissan executive disclosed the possible factory plans Sunday at a ceremony in which Nissan and its Chinese joint-venture partner Dongfeng Motor Co. signed an agreement with the Guangzhou government to set up an electric-car program -- part of Nissan's global effort to help accelerate use of all-electric cars.
Under that agreement, Nissan's second with a Chinese city, the Japanese company will work with the city government to study ways to promote "zero-emission" cars like the Leaf, which Nissan plans to start test-marketing in the U.S. and Japan late next year and in China in 2011.
As part of the program, Nissan plans to look into the economic rationale for producing Leaf cars in Guangzhou and to "determine the next step," Nissan Executive Vice President Hiroto Saikawa said in a speech at the ceremony. He didn't provide details.
While the plans are still preliminary, they are the first sign that Nissan is considering electric-vehicle production in China, which this year surpassed the U.S. as the world's biggest car market by unit sales. Nissan already has announced plans to begin production of the Leaf in Japan next year, and in the U.S. and Europe by March 2013.
Nissan and its biggest shareholder, France's Renault SA, have been signing agreements with municipal and national governments in several countries to promote electric vehicles, with more than 30 such deals world-wide. The Japanese company increasingly is staking its future on cars that run solely on batteries instead of the hybrid vehicles that many rivals are focusing on.
Nissan's agreement with Guangzhou, a major industrial city in southern China with a population of about 10 million, follows a similar accord it signed in April with the city of Wuhan in central China. In these "zero-emission" programs, Nissan is expected to provide Leaf electric cars to government agencies and help develop a network of battery-charging stations, among other moves.
"Based on our agreement with Nissan today, we're going to try to help electric-vehicle technology go mainstream and help Nissan mass-produce electric cars," Guangzhou Mayor Zhang Guangning said Sunday.
Wuhan is among 13 cities the Chinese government chose earlier this year for a pilot program to boost use of new-energy vehicles. Those cities, which don't include Guangzhou, are supposed to provide subsidies for purchases of all-electric battery cars, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen-fuel-cell cars. They are expected to collectively put 60,000 new-energy vehicles in service in four years.
Write to Norihiko Shirouzu at norihiko.shirouzu@wsj.com