Nissan Motor Co., an automaker emblematic of what it means to be a global company, has a simple plan for navigating an unprecedented political and regulatory environment: Focus on what it can command.
"The regulations are not in our control, but what is in our control is that we stay competitive cost-wise, technology-wise, product-wise," Rakesh Kochhar, Nissan's senior vice president of global treasury and sales finance, said Thursday at the Bloomberg Asean Business Summit in Hanoi.
The global head of Nissan's automotive finance business said he's confident Yokohama-based Nissan will be able to work with any administration in a constructive manner.
The dependence of global automakers on open borders to ship cars and parts around the world is coming under scrutiny following last month's U.S. election of Donald Trump, who rallied voters by railing against America's trade policy with Mexico, China and Japan. The president-elect has threatened a 35 percent tariff on any vehicles Ford Motor Co. builds in Mexico and ships back to the U.S., a levy carmakers fear he would apply industrywide.
While Nissan was spared inclusion in Trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail, the automaker is adding to a reliance on Mexican plants for millions of vehicles and parts that's already greater than Ford's. Nissan started building cars in the country 50 years ago and produced 830,000 vehicles last year.
CEO Carlos Ghosn also has brokered a deal with Daimler AG to joint produce Infiniti and Mercedes luxury cars from a new Mexico plant scheduled to begin production next year.
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