Local News

The Nissan Motor Co. spun off its Fukuoka Prefecture plant on August 1 to create Nissan Motor Kyushu. One reason for the move was to keep personnel expenses at Kyushu levels in an effort to cut costs as competition intensifies with companies in the newly emerging economies. The company also hopes to leverage its location near Asia to boost its parts procurement from overseas, which will force local parts companies to increase productivity and R&D expenditures.