(Yicai) April 30 -- Dongfeng Nissan,  also known as Dongfeng Motor, the joint venture between Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Motor and Japanese counterpart Nissan Motor, has denied it plans to close its factory in Wuhan.

Dongfeng Nissan's Wuhan plant is running normally and has no plans to shut down, it told Yicai yesterday, refuting a Reuters report claiming Nissan wants to end vehicle production at the site by March 31 next year.

The JV will continue to develop steadily with the support of both Dongfeng and Nissan, accelerating its transition toward new energy vehicles and intelligent technologies to better meet customer needs, it added.

Founded in 2003, Dongfeng Nissan manages the Nissan, Venucia, and Infiniti brands in China. It has an annual production capacity of 1.6 million units.

Dongfeng Nissan's Wuhan factory began construction in 2019, was completed in January 2021, and kicked off production in May 2022. It has flexible manufacturing capabilities for multiple vehicle types, including fossil fuel, hybrid electric, and pure electric vehicles, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 units. The plant produces models such as the X-Trail, X-Trail e-Power, and ARIYA.

Based on Dongfeng Nissan's NEV sales, its Wuhan factory has an extremely low capacity utilization rate of under 10 percent of its planned capacity. Last June, it had reportedly started producing cars under Dongfeng's high-end NEV brand Voyah.

In the first quarter, Nissan's sales in China plunged 27 percent to 121,335 units from a year earlier. During the ongoing Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition, the carmaker said it will leverage China's advantages in new energy and intelligent technologies to accelerate product iteration.

Dongfeng Nissan plans to invest CNY10 billion (USD1.4 billion) over the next three years and expand its research and development department to about 4,000 staffers from 1,600 while cutting its products' development cycle to 24 months.

By summer 2027, Dongfeng Nissan will increase its NEV lineup to 10 models from eight. The N7 and Frontier Pro plug-in hybrid EV that the JV showcased at the Shanghai Auto Show will be exported globally in the future.

Editor: Futura Costaglione