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October 23, 2000
Nissan and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Reach Agreement on Forklift Truck Business Alliance
Tokyo -- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) reached an agreement today on comprehensive global cooperation in their forklift truck business. The agreement calls for joint efforts on product development, procurement and OEM supply of forklift trucks. The cooperative effort will enable both companies to increase competitiveness in the global forklift market.
"The forklift truck market is becoming more competitive. We need to compete with other top forklift makers using synergies from this alliance. We will continue to supply competitive high-quality products in collaboration with MHI to satisfy our worldwide customers, and together we can compete with the combined resources as one of the largest forklift groups in the market worldwide.." said Nissan Executive Vice President Hisayoshi Kojima.
This agreement is based on a shared desire by both companies to provide customers with competitive high-quality products meeting their needs. It is aimed at improving competitiveness through synergies resulting from effective use of both companies' R&D capabilities and sales strengths in the face of ever-increasing fierce competition and the ongoing reorganization of this business field on a global scale.
This alliance will include the following specific areas.
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Joint development : Nissan and MHI will jointly develop 1.0- to 3.0 ton engine-powered forklifts.
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Joint procurement : Nissan and MHI will jointly procure parts for forklift production and service parts, thereby strengthening cost competitiveness.
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Cross supply of products : Nissan and MHI will undertake and expand a cross supply of products with the aim of strengthening and improving the customer appeal of their respective product lineups.
The two companies will form an Alliance Promotion Committee to realize further synergies in other areas of their forklift truck business.
Nissan's forklift operations have consistently posted operating profit for the company. Its 1,730 employees are in Japan, U.S., and Europe, and about 30,000 units were sold last year in more than 60 countries worldwide.
Improving the profitability of Nissan's forklift truck business is important to Nissan's revival. Nissan is committed to returning to consolidated profitability in the current fiscal year ending March 2001, to reducing the consolidated interest-bearing debt of its automotive operations to less than 700 billion yen by the fiscal year ending March 2003 and to achieving a consolidated operating-profit-to-sales-ratio of 4.5% by that same fiscal year.
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