Nissan Motor has nudged up its profit forecast for what is already set to be the automaker's best year since 2008, saying a surge in the dollar is pushing up the value of earnings in the United States, its biggest market.

Japan's second automaker by sales after Toyota has enjoyed strong growth in the United States over recent quarters, achieved partly by offering buying incentives well above the industry's 2014 average of $2,784 per vehicle.

In the third quarter alone, when Nissan’s earnings eclipsed analyst estimates, discounts cost the automaker about $3,500 per vehicle, according to researcher Autodata.

But the strength of dollar sales in yen terms drove up income, helping Nissan offset weaker-than-expected demand in China and Russia.

"We anticipate good full-year results as our product offensive and positive momentum in North America . . . offsets volatility in other markets," chief executive Carlos Ghosn said in a statement on Monday.

Exchange rate

Nissan raised its operating profit forecast by 6.5 per cent to 570 billion yen for the business year to March 31st.

That compared with the 589.9 billion yen average estimate of analysts.

It also changed its dollar exchange rate assumption to 108.8 yen for the year from 104 yen. Currency movement accounted for 55 billion yen of the revised profit forecast, corporate vice-president Joji Tagawa said at an earnings briefing.

At the same time, Nissan lowered its global sales projection by 2.8 per cent to 5.3 million vehicles, primarily because of overall market conditions in China and Russia.

For October-December, profit nearly doubled to 156 billion yen versus the 121.42 billion yen estimate of 12 analysts, helped by a low base of comparison from the year-earlier quarter when Nissan booked higher marketing expenses. – Reuters