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By Bloomberg

Nissan Motor Co.’s North American chief vowed to overtake Honda Motor Co. in U.S. sales, helped by the introduction of its Titan full-size pickup truck.

“By saying overtaking them, I don’t mean overtake them for one month or two months, I mean overtaking them consistently every month,” said Jose Munoz, executive vice president for Nissan’s business in the region. “We have more presence in more segments, just to mention simply the full-size pickup truck Titan we are going to launch for a big segment, which is more than 2 million cars, where this competitor doesn’t operate. This is a significant advantage.”

Nissan’s Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn is counting on the U.S. to buffer the effect of a recession in Russia and slowing growth in Japan and China. Major automakers including Nissan had their best January U.S. vehicle sales in at least seven years, buoyed by cheap gasoline and falling unemployment.

The carmaker forecasts an increase in U.S. market share to 10 percent by March 2017, a target Munoz said he expects to beat. Nissan’s U.S. market share rose 0.4 percentage points to 8.4 percent in 2014, according to Autodata Corp.

Nissan boosted U.S. sales by 11 percent to a record last year, compared with the 6.2 percent increase for Toyota and a 1 percent gain at Honda, Autodata figures show. The carmaker also outsold Honda last month in the U.S. for the first time since March 2014, helped by demand for its Rogue SUV.

Takata Recalls

Honda, which recalled 5.4 million vehicles last year in the U.S. to fix faulty air bags made by Takata Corp. and delayed introductions of new vehicles due to flaws with its own new hybrid system, saw market share decline to 9.3 percent from 9.8 percent, according to Autodata.

There are “high expectations” for the Titan, unveiled at the Detroit motor show in January, as it’s aimed at the niche between heavy-duty and light-duty trucks, Takaki Nakanishi, an auto analyst at Jefferies Group LLC, wrote in a report last month. The Murano SUV, which went on sale in December, may also continue to boost profit in North America.

Incentives also helped drive sales. Nissan spent an average of $2,892 per vehicle sold in the U.S., higher than Toyota and Honda’s incentives, according to Autodata.

Munoz said today the market share target for the U.S. will be achieved while holding profit margins above 8 percent. The target doesn’t depend on additional capital spending as Nissan will use available capacity in Japan and South Korea, he said.

Ghosn said in December Nissan will increase Japan output for exports to U.S. and other markets this year to take advantage of yen’s weakness.