Nissan India?s monthly sales have been growing at a fast pace, driven by its hot-selling sedan Sunny, which is now a year old in the market. The hatchback Micra, launched in 2010, has been pitching in well too. The Japanese carmaker says it is now about to shift into a higher gear with the upcoming launch of the Evalia into India?s fast growing multi-utility vehicle segment. Takayuki Ishida, managing director and chief executive officer, Nissan India, tells FE?s Ajay Sukumaran that the company is confident of almost doubling its sales volumes this fiscal despite macroeconomic concerns. Edited excerpts:
What?s Nissan?s outlook for the year?
Last year (2011) we sold around 33,000 units, but this year we are aiming at achieving almost double that volume. That is our expectation.
How concerned are you with the current market conditions?
We don?t need to be pessimistic. We have our existing products and also the new `Evalia?, which we will introduce in the festival season. That will bring us new customers. Those customers will be different from the Micra and Sunny customers. I think the Evalia is capable of creating a new demand in the Indian market.
What?s your vision for the India market and how will you expand your product portfolio?
We see India as a priority market that will be one of the big pillars of Nissan?s growth. Our global vision is to achieve 8% market share. In the case of India we would like to reserve our market share figures. Obviously, to better the growth in this market, along with expanding the dealer network, we need to introduce new products. We are currently examining which product is appropriate for the Indian customer. We are thinking of bringing one or two new products per year, depending on the product development schedule. The key is to meet the Indian customer?s requirement and I believe we need to introduce a localised model. At Nissan globally there are products which we might be able to bring in the Indian market but I think not every product is appropriate. Therefore we have to carefully check which segment is appropriate.
What?s the plan to expand production capacity?
We have a plant at Chennai where the capacity is currently over 400,000 units. Considering the current growth including export, we still have some room to produce. For future expansion, of course, we have some choice. One is to expand the production facility next to the existing plant, but it maybe not enough for this. In that case, we need to find some other site very close to the plant, or maybe we can find some other place in India. We have the room to speed up the existing facility because with the same production line we can produce more. Considering these things, we don?t need to be so much in a hurry. For the next couple of years, we should be okay with the current capacity.
What?s the plan to increase dealerships?
Currently, we have over 70 dealers across India. By the end of the next year we want to have close to 150. That?s the kind of pace we are trying to keep.
