Nissan Motor Co, scrambling to respond to the global auto industry slump, said on Dec. 9 it would delay production at a plant in India by about six months. The planned facility in Chennai -- a joint venture with Indian carmaker Ashok Leyland -- is now due to start production sometime in 2011-2012, Nissan spokeswoman Yuko Matsuda said.
Nissan said in September that the new plant was due to have production capacity of 100,000 vehicles, of which 20% were to be exported.
Japan's third-biggest automaker said in October its first-half net profit plunged 40.5% to 126.3 billion yen (US$1.36 billion).
India's car market has enjoyed double-digit sales growth in recent years, but it has cooled recently due to the slowdown in the global economy.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
