DUBAI: Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (NML) and Al-Dahana FZCO signed AED10 billion agreement yesterday to establish Nissan Gulf FZCO, a joint venture company, to boost Nissan’s marketing and sales strategy in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets and introduce a full-fledged financial services platform through all Middle East and North African countries.
The agreement was signed by Khaled Al-Juffali, chairman of Nissan Gulf FZCO, who is also the vice chairman and managing partner of E.A. Juffali & Brothers of Saudi Arabia, and Colin Dodge, senior vice president, general overseas market operations and China operations of NML, Japan, at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers in the presence of auto and media representatives.
Nasser Watar will be vice chairman and managing director of Nissan Gulf.
Nissan Gulf will help enhance Nissan’s marketing and sales strategy, dealer development and front line management in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Bahrain, with the aim of selling 160,000 vehicles a year by 2012.
Khaled Al-Juffali said after signing the agreement that “We are excited about the opportunity to be a part of Nissan’s business in these four areas,” adding that “we are confident of our ability to deliver on Nissan’s brand promise by bringing our expertise and understanding of the local markets to supercharge Nissan’s operations and exceed customer’s expectations.”
He added: Nissan Gulf will embrace Nissan’s essence of sustainability in bringing healthy profit growth coupled with a high sense of social responsibility, committing itself to Nissan’s GT 2012 goals for the region.”
Khaled said Nissan Gulf will introduce a full-fledged financial services platform inspired by international markets and customized to offer highly competitive and aggressive financing and insurance products that are fully synergized with local market needs, hence, creating a one-stop-shop for Nissan buyers.
Khaled added: “To deliver on our ambitious five-year strategic agenda that includes aggressive targets in customer growth, revenue increases and cost reductions, which aim at planning Nissan’s at 25 percent market share in the four markets by 2012, a new level of teamwork is required, which we believe our partners are exemplary as proven in their operations globally.”
Dodge said “the Middle East is one of the fastest growing auto markets and is a strategic area of focus for the future of Nissan.” He added “Al-Dahana is a strategic partner that will offer sales, marketing and dealer development expertise to sustain our success in key markets of the region.”
