By Taro Fujimoto

Business Sep. 30, 2008 - 05:32AM JST ( 2 )

TOKYO —

Nissan Motor Corp on Monday released its luxury SUV Murano for the Japanese market. The company, which already released the new model in the United States in January, will sell the Murano in 170 countries. Nissan said it expects 900 units to be sold per month in Japan, targeting male customers in their 30s to 40s. The price range is 3,150,000 to 4,042,500 yen.

Asked if the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers would impact Nissan’s business, Toshiyuki Shiga, chief operating officer, said, “We don’t foresee any impact of the so-called ‘Lehman shock’ in the domestic market. The Chinese nor Russian markets will not be impacted either. In fact, sales are better in those countries than we estimated.”

Shiga said the company will not change its annual business plan in spite of the unstable U.S. financial market, although he admitted the company was keeping a careful eye on the global economy.

Although the domestic car market is declining, Shiga said, “The sales of our compact cars are going well. The volume of car production is increasing now as a whole (for the company).”