Nissan to restart exports from Oppama plant-paper

TOKYO, May 3 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will restart exports of vehicles to the United States and Europe from the Oppama plant, near Tokyo, from the autumn for the first time in five years, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.

Nikkei, without specifying a source, said Nissan, Japan's third-biggest automaker, will boost production at the plant in line with the plan to export more compact vehicles abroad.

The plant is set to produce 100,000 units per year of its fully remodelled boxy small wagon called Cube. The small wagon will be sold in Japan and some units will be exported to the U.S. and European markets, Nikkei said.

The Oppama plant, which has capacity to produce 480,000 vehicles per year, made 300,000 in 2007.

One of the factory's two production lines is now operating in just one shift, but it will raise to two shifts from the autumn, Nikkei said.

Nissan aims to operate the plant at full capacity by 2010, the daily said.

Nissan is also planning to produce fuel-efficient cars and electric cars at the plant from 2010.

Nissan, owned 44 percent by Renault SA (RENA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), estimated in March its European sales growth in the previous financial year, which ended in March, to be slightly weaker than an estimate of about 11 percent.

On Thursday, Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said that the U.S. auto market could stabilise in 2009-2010, and the industry overall would rely mostly on emerging markets to expand.

"Japan at best will see stagnation, West Europe at best stagnation, the U.S. is slumping in 2008 and at best in 2009-2010, we will see stabilisation," Ghosn told a news conference in Portugal where Japan's third-largest carmaker was showing its model line-up to the international media. (Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)