Nissan gained market share in North America this year despite a massive earthquake and tsunami in March that shook its headquarters in Japan and temporarily closed its plants.

The devastating earthquake killed more than 15,000 people in Japan and disrupted car and truck production for Japan's three largest automakers for several months.

At Nissan's Yokohama headquarters - which felt the quake although the epicentre was 250 kilometres away - an earthquake crisis committee met within minutes, according to a company summary of events.

Shortly after that, crisis teams were sent out to Nissan's suppliers, and the company quickly figured out which models would be most affected, said Al Castignetti, vice-president and general manager of Nissan in the U.S.

Nissan managed to bring its inventory back to normal levels by July and then worked to get the word out to the public, which had the impression that all Japanese automakers had few vehicles available.

In the U.S., sales have declined 7.5 per cent for Toyota and 5.3 per cent for Honda for the first 11 months of the year.

But at Nissan, U.S. sales have increased 15.6 per cent - outpacing the industry's 10.4 per cent gain.

Nissan's market share, including its Infiniti luxury brand, grew to 8.2 per cent through November compared with 7.8 per cent last year, and up from 5.8 per cent in 2004.

Now, Nissan has set its sights on overtaking Honda to become the second-biggest Japanese automaker in the U.S. based on sales. In fact, Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of Renault and Nissan, has said Nissan's goal is to achieve a 10 per cent market share in the U.S.

Nissan expects to keep growing in 2012 because the firm is launching a redesigned Altima midsize sedan and also will soon introduce a redesigned Sentra compact car and Versa subcompact hatchback.

All three models compete in high-volume segments, Castignetti said.