(November 9, 2009) The global car market has bottomed and is on track for 60 million units sales next year, aided by the United States, Carlos Ghosn, who heads Japan's Nissan Motor Co. and France's Renault SA, said on Sunday.

Ghosn said his global forecast for auto sales for this year was above his earlier expectation of 55 million unit sales. "It looks like we are here hitting a plateau," he said at a World Economic Forum event in New Delhi. Global vehicle sales totaled roughly 70 million vehicles in each of the past two years.

"All plans of expansion and capacity can be resumed with a much more solid understanding of how this crisis will end up," Ghosn said.

Auto executives around the world have cautioned that sales could drop back to pre-stimulus levels without a convincing recovery in the global economy. Robust growth in emerging markets such as India and China are helping to absorb some of the pain.

"I don't believe in a double dip because we didn't come up," Ghosn said, referring to the prospect of a "double-dip" recession. "The big question is when are we going to move up."

He said pockets of economic recovery are emerging.

"It's very likely that we will start to move up in 2010, selectively, with obviously China, India, the Middle East, South America playing an important role. The United States also," he said. "I'm afraid Europe, Japan are still going to have a tough year in 2010," he told reporters.

Nissan is 44 percent owned by Renault.