Nissan Motors Corporation reported earnings of $380 million for the first quarter of 2011, despite a slow down in production caused by the earthquake and is poised to steal US sales from its Japanese rivals.

In a memorandum to dealers Thursday, Nissan North America Vice President Al Castignetti said the company is in a much better position than its rivals Toyota Motors and Honda Motors Corporation in terms of inventory. The automaker attributes this to its Japanese and North American factories recovering more quickly from damage and shortage of supply.

Its $380 million profit for January-March reverses the $143 million it lost a year earlier. Nissan registered a 10 percent jump in its quarterly sales to $29 billion. According to Castignetti, the Japanese carmaker has a 64-day supply of cars and trucks in the US to start the month of May, higher than Toyota and Honda with 48 and 36, respectively.

Nissan is planning to reduce incentive spending in April to prevent blowing through its car supply and feels it can offer better deals. The car maker already has the most generous deal among Japanese car manufacturers in the US in April. Car pricing site TrueCar.com estimates its incentive per vehicle at $2,309.

According to Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn, production at Nissan plants worldwide will return at its pre-disaster level by October, then the company will recover for the lost production. As of March 2011, Nissan has made $3.9 billion, seven times greater than its earnings the previous year while recovering from the global financial crisis.

The carmaker’s annual sales increased 17 percent to $108 billion. For the fiscal year, it sold 4.9 million units, representing a 19.1 percent increase. Its global sales increased 12.6 percent through March 2011. It sold a record 1.02 million units in China, its largest single market, a 35.5 percent increase. While its year-over-year sales in Japan decreased, it was the opposite in the US, European, and South American market.

In the United States, sales increased by 12.2 percent from the previous year in April, thanks largely to the sales of its Altima sedan. On the other hand, Toyota’s sales have been damaged by massive recalls resulting to an increase of just 1 percent in the US.

Ghosn did not report projected earnings for the current year until March 2012 but said figures would be ready during its shareholders’ meeting in June.

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