Nissan Motor India Private Limited (NMIPL), a completely owned subsidiary of the Japanese automotive giant - Nissan Motor Co., announced a hike on the prices of select models of its product portfolio, to be effective from November 1, 2012. The company has decided to hike the retail costs of its popular Micra hatch and mid-size Sunny saloon in the Indian market.
The move is going to raise some eyebrows considering the marketing strategy employed by NMIPL, as Indian festivities are already under way and could deter the domestic audience from investing in Nissan cars. The Japanese auto major has cited the burgeoning costs of raw materials, transportation and logistics along with the ever increasing prices of fuel, to be among the prime reasons behind the hike in retail values of its products.
Highlighting the company's reasons behind the price hike towards offsetting losses, Nitish Tipnis, Director, Sales and Marketing, Hover Automotive India (HAI) said, "The prices are being revised to partially offset appreciation in input and transportation costs. While all leading automobile companies raised prices earlier this year, we at Nissan absorbed rising input costs and held back the price hike. Although we have now reached the stage where we have to make an adjustment, I can assure all customers that both Micra and Sunny will continue to represent outstanding value within the market." HAI is the National Sales Company (NSC) of Nissan Motor Co., Japan and serves as its only distributor for implementing the marketing, training, sales, after-sales service and dealer development operations in the Indian Territory. HAI operates an independent division with an absolute aim of accelerating the sales and establishing customer oriented touch points in the country for NMIPL.
The Nissan Micra falls in the premium hatchback category and contributes to a major chunk of the company's total sales in the country, while Nissan Sunny sedan manages to record decent sales as well. Evidently, the Japanese auto maker refrained from increasing the prices of its first Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV) Nissan Evalia, which was launched in September 2012. Currently, Evalia MPV competes against the likes of Mahindra Xylo, Toyota Innova and Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. It is going to be interesting to see how the Indian car enthusiasts react to the price hike by Nissan during the ongoing festival season, which lasts till the end of year.
Reportedly, NMIPL's year -on- year sales shot up by more than 50 per cent at 33,000 units in 2011 financial year and the company aspires to repeat a similar feat on the domestic turf. Accordingly, NMIPL is working towards wrapping up its sales target of 1,00,000 units by the end of ongoing 2012-13 fiscal. Further, the company is leaving no stones unturned for augmenting its sales and service network in the country from the current 75 dealerships to 95, by end of the ongoing fiscal.
