Nissan CEO Says 2012 Auto Sales Will Out Run 2011 Sales
VELSHI: We know the uncertainty about the economy makes consumers hesitant to spend money, it makes companies less likely to expand. But what does it mean for the auto industry? I sat down this week with Carlos Ghosn, he is the president and CEO of Nissan Motor Company. And asked him about strongest influences in the American car market right now?</s>CARLOS GHOSN, PRESIDENT & CEO, NISSAN MOTOR COMPANY: I think without any doubt one of the reasons for which the market is growing again is because there's a lot of innovation. I mean, new styles, new concepts. At the same time the cars are much more efficient. That means competition is picking up. So, it's a very exciting time to be in the car industry today in the United States. And the choice which is being offered to consumers is tremendous. And this is going to only increase in the next year.</s>VELSHI: Let me take you back into your global CEO perspective for a second. When you look at what's going on in the world, tell me a little bit about your concerns for the United States.</s>GHOSN: Mainly uncertainty. That's all. There's no particular concern. The U.S. is growing. Not at the level we would love. We would think one pre-occupation is the fact that there is not enough jobs created. Because we know at the end of the day it ends up affecting consumers. This is a situation we don't like. But if you take the year 2011; 2011 for the car industry has been a year of growth compared to 2010. In any scenario we are foreseeing in the 2012, in the U.S., higher for the car industry, higher than the year 2011. So, we're doing fine. But we're far from the potential that this market has sold 16, 17 million cars a year. Obviously, we don't expect this to come back.</s>VELSHI: Because it's a mature market.</s>GHOSN: Exactly. We are still very far from it. We are expecting, this year, to be around 12.8 to 13 million cars, and next year we'll see another growth. So, that means no particular serious concern for the U.S. market, but some pre-occupation that this uncertainty should not stay a long time.</s>VELSHI: We've talked in the past about how sometimes it's uncertainty about individual jobs that stop people from buy a new car, but lately it's been just the lack of availability of credit. What your seeing? Your seeing greater availability of credit for people who have the money, who are employed in the United States, who want to buy a car?</s>GHOSN: I don't think credit is a problem in the U.S. I don't think there is a pre-occupation about the functioning of the financial system like we saw in 2008, 2009. This may be a concern in Europe, as you know.</s>VELSHI: Right.</s>GHOSN: Because of the latest scares that everybody-everybody had. Now, the U.S., the only major question is about, you know, when are we going to have a little bit more significant growth for the U.S. market? That's the main question.</s>VELSHI: Why a double dip recession, if it happens, will be felt differently by each of you out there. I'll explain next in my "X, Y, Z".