Nissan Middle East’s success basis for positive 2013

NISSAN  Middle East  has announced a 26.2 percent rise in sales for the 2012 financial year (FY 2012) ending March 31, 2013.
The result, which outperformed the overall market trend by 1.1 percent, follows a year of award-winning brand building activities during which five new exciting and innovative models were launched. Nissan Middle East achieved 14.4 percent market share, up 0.1 percent on FY 2011.
The performance has led Nissan to predict positive growth 2013 in the Middle East during which it is forecasting a minimum 11.1 percent rise in sales against expected market growth of 5 percent. By the close of FY 2013, Nissan Middle East expects a market share across the region to be 15.2 percent.
“Nissan’s strategy in the Middle East is based on the global strategy, ‘Nissan Power 88,’ a wide-ranging six-year business plan announced in FY2011 that will accelerate the company’s growth,” said Samir Cherfan, MD, Nissan Middle East.
“Based on Power 88, Nissan is aggressively renewing its product line-up in the region and heavily investing in powerful, sometimes record-breaking, brand initiatives. In financial year 2012, Nissan launched a new model almost every two months in the Middle East, all of which were enthusiastically welcomed by car buyers,” Cherfan said.
“These new models played their part in our strong performance this year but there were also powerful market forces driving growth,” he added.
Nissan will enjoy full year sale of the new models introduced in FY 2012, which are expected to play a major part in increasing market share. Its leadership in the B/C segment was reinforced with the introduction of an all-new name to arguably the most competitive of segments, the Nissan Sentra small-sedan. In the first 50 days of its availability, nearly 1,500 Sentras were sold, reinforcing  Nissan’s position as segment leader. 
Nissan will now use the strong initial response from the region’s car buyers as a platform on which to build toward an ambitious target of 25,000 Sentra sales per year in the GCC. 
Sales of another of Nissan’s B/C segment nameplates, Nissan Sunny (launched late in FY 2011), also produced encouraging results in FY 2012. Sunny’s year was crowned when it was voted ‘Best small sedan’ by Wheels magazine, one of the Middle East’s most respected automotive titles.
Nissan Patrol, the iconic Hero of All Terrain and one of the region’s most popular vehicles, witnessed its most successful year in the Gulf since launch with a staggering 66 percent increase in sales – far outstripping the segment average increase of 24 percent. In total more than 14,000 units were sold across the region cementing its authority in the SUV segment with a market share of 22 percent.
Cherfan said: “The Middle East represents a very important and strategic market for Nissan and we will continue our drive to exceed customer expectations. The positive figures of FY 2012 also reflect the strong gains we have made in expanding consumer confidence in our brand.”