Japanese car manufacturers, reeling from a doubly whammy at home (down 9.3 percent) and in the U.S.A. (down 21.2 percent) are looking increasingly to growth markets such as China (up 45 percent) and India (up 18.7 percent.) Large players like Nissan, Honda and Toyota in China, and Suzuki in India, have been there for years. Now there is a virtual stampede. A collection of news from today’s Nikkei [sub]:

Isuzu will set up a truck sales joint venture with Qingling in China this year, with the goal of boosting annual sales there from about 40,000 vehicles now to 100,000 as early as 2012, The Nikkei learned Tuesday. Quingling an Isuzu had a JV since 1985, but Qingling handled sales on behalf of Isuzu.

Mitsubishi Fuso plans to sell small trucks in India from mid-2010 and launch local production in 2012, President Albert Kirchmann told The Nikkei Wednesday.

Honda’s joint venture in China said Wednesday that it will build a second automobile plant to better meet rapidly growing demand in the Chinese market. With an initial investment worth Y15.4 billion, Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co. will construct the new plant on a one-million square-meter construction site located about four kilometers northeast of the existing plant in Wuhan, Hubei Province, the Nikkei writes.

Nissan plans to start selling its first small car in India from July and export the vehicle later this year as part of its strategy to make the country a global manufacturing hub, the chief executive of its India unit said Wednesday to the Nikkei.