Nissan is redesigning its strategy with its JV partner Renault in India, according to Nissan global CEO.
Nissan will have new four new models in its India line-up in the next three years. As part of its revamped plan, the brand not only expects its product portfolio to increase, but it also plans to bring in an EV by 2026-27 – thereby the share of domestic volumes should move up. Apart from four new models, Nissan also has the Magnite facelift in the pipeline.
The global management informed that as part of its revised plan, it sees almost 50 percent of the volumes produced in India going towards the exports to ensure a balanced operation. So far, about 64 percent of its total output was shipped to market overseas, with just one model being sold in the country.
Addressing a question to Autocar India post the announcement of its new mid-term plan called Nissan Arc, Uchida said, “In India we have a partner in Renault, and we will redesign our formation to go with Renault. There are rich assets that we enjoy in India, and we would like to use India as a hub for exports. Soon we would like to make an announcement of some kind when we are ready.”
As part of the new plan announced in February 2023, the equity structure of the alliance partners Renault and Nissan was restructured with the plant Nissan Motor holding a majority of 51 percent and Renault 49 percent, whereas the Renault Nissan Technology Business Centre India – Renault will hold 51 percent and Nissan 49 percent – the same was to be operationalized within a year.
Interestingly, after the global announcement in Japan on Monday, the CEO Uchida of Nissan Motor Corporation as well as its alliance chairman Jean Dominique Senard and partner Renault’s CEO Luca De Meo are visiting India this week to review the local operation and decide the execution of its next phase in the country.
Nissan India export plans
Guillaume Cartier, Chairperson, Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) at Nissan Motor Corporation said, “India is an important part of the mid-term development plan, to generate 1 million (incremental volume) growth.”
“We believe in India and this market will grow above 4 million, so we want to increase our presence in the country. How to do that? We will have more products. So instead of 1 product today, we will have 4. Then we are expanding our strategy on everything that will be EV, we need to be ready by 2026-27. We will make in India for India but also take India as an export hub and in terms of percentage, with 50 percent share. So, by doing that we have something really balanced inside that will be different than our initial plan,” added Cartier.
The company aims to augment capacity utilisation of its manufacturing facility in Oragadam, Chennai, planning to ramp up its made-in-India vehicle export volumes to 100,000 units annually in the mid-term, by FY26. The Tamil Nadu plant, which is shared with its global Alliance partner Renault, has a combined annual production capacity of 480,000 units.
Nissan Motor India presently exports the Magnite compact SUV to more than 108 global markets such as Latin America, Africa, Middle-East, as well as to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh. The company has recently added a light hand drive version of compact SUV Magnite.
The company commenced its export operations from India in September 2010, and in FY23, accomplished the milestone of exporting a cumulative 1 million cars from the country. “We will continue to leverage our Alliance in India, and India will be a hub for exports at the level of 100,000 units,” said Uchida at the global announcement.
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