A visitor is seen in a Nissan Motor Corp showroom. in Tokyo, Japan on November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

TOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Nissan Motor Co raised its full-year profit outlook on Tuesday by posting more profit per vehicle, but said access to scarce semiconductors would be the main driver future earnings growth.

Like other major global automakers, Nissan has been forced to cut vehicle production even amid robust demand in key markets such as China and the United States due to a shortage of chips caused by COVID supply chain disruptions and competition for the component from a range of industries.

“2022 will be determined by how many cars we can make, rather than how many we can sell,” Nissan chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta said during a briefing following the latest. announcement of its results.

Some automakers say they expect chip shortages to ease in the second half of 2022, although some auto chipmakers have warned a recovery could take longer.

The company raised its operating profit forecast for the year to March 31 by 17% to 210 billion yen ($1.82 billion), helped by a cost cut that improved margins and a stronger yen. weak which strengthened the value in yen of sales abroad.

That outlook is higher than an average profit of 194 billion yen based on estimates from 20 analysts, according to Refinitiv data.

The scarcity of cars for consumers to buy also means that Japan’s No. 3 automaker earns more per car because it no longer needs to offer large financial incentives to attract consumers, especially in the United States.

Japan’s No. 3 automaker maintained its global full-year sales target of 3.8 million vehicles after cutting it from 4.4 million in November.

“Hopefully we can get more semiconductors,” Nissan chief financial officer Stephen Ma said during the briefing.

Operating profit for the three months to Dec. 31 nearly doubled to 52.2 billion yen ($451.8 million), beating an average profit of 35.8 billion yen estimated by nine analysts, according to Refinitiv data.

Retail volume in the quarter fell 16.3% from a year ago to 904,000 vehicles, the largest decline in the United States, which fell 19.8%.

($1 = 115.5300 yen)

Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Shailesh Kuber

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