The second largest car maker of Japan, Nissan is eyeing the position of the largest passenger vehicles exporter of India as per a senior executive of the company. It started exporting vehicles from India in the year 2010 and presently delivers 85 per cent of the domestically produced cars to markets in Europe, Asia and Africa. After the resounding success of the 'made in India' Micra hatchback in more than 100 nations, the Indian arm of the company recently began exporting the Sunny premium sedan.
The export volumes of the manufacturer are already increasing at the highest rate in the country, even though it lags far behind market leaders Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki. It aims to replace the South Korean manufacturer, which exported 2.37 lac cars in the previous financial year, from the pole position in terms of foreign shipments. The export figures of Nissan have grown twofold in the last financial year and stood at 1,00,909 units during the period, riding on high demand for compact cars in markets like Europe and Latin America. Presently, the manufacturer develops over 3 lac vehicles in India as part of its global tie up with French auto maker Renault.
Nissan has set up a plant in Chennai that is used to develop the Micra and acts as the production base for African, European and other Western markets. Now, it also builds the Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits for the Sunny for the Egyptian market, where these will be assembled at a local factory.
Takayuki Ishida, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India Private Limited (NMIPL), commented, "We have ambitious plans for India. Exports from India have been a huge success so far, and we want to increase it with new models, as trans-continental markets post stronger demand for smaller cars. We plan to increase our production to over four lac cars, most of which would be meant for exports." He continued, "We are readying several markets to increase export of cars manufactured in India. We will also expand our product portfolio by launching several new cars. Many of these would be targeting overseas market and India could be the sole production centre in Asia."
As per analysts, many manufacturers operating in India can easily enjoy an excellent position in foreign markets. An auto analyst working at a brokerage firm in Mumbai said, "India enjoys tremendous advantages of cost competitiveness due to cheaper labour. The added advantage of huge volumes enjoyed by Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki allow them to export more and take competitive advantage in overseas market. Likewise, Nissan also has a huge product portfolio and eventually would become a major player in exports market."
