The alliance of Nissan-Renault India Pvt. Ltd. said on Friday that it has crossed the production mark of 100,000 petrol engines at its Indian plant. With this, the firm has commenced the manufacturing of 1.5L petrol engines for its upcoming mid-size sedan Nissan sunny, which is scheduled to hit Indian roads by October this year.
Speaking on the occasion, Kou Kimura, CEO and MD of Renault Nissan Alliance, said, "The plant has set milestones that are creditable on a global level. It makes me feel proud of the local skill-set that are driving it to such high levels."
Nissan-Renault started manufacturing petrol engines at their Orgadam car plant near Chennai in May 2010. At present, the firm produces 1.2 litre and 1.5 litre petrol engines at this plant. Besides engines, the firm produces hatchback Nissan Micra and premium sedan Fluence at this plant. The upcoming luxury sports utility vehicle Renault Koleos and Nissan’s Sunny will also be manufactured at this plant.
In June 2011, the Orgadam car plant achieved the milestone of manufacturing 1,00,000 Micra hatchbacks. With planning aggressively to expand in the Indian market, the Nissan Motor Company eyes to draw nearly 10 percent of its total global production out of India.
In a recent statement given to IANS, Nissan Motor Company's executive vice president Andy Palmer said, "In 2011, India will produce about four percent of Nissan's total volume. If I project that forward to the mid-term, one can only speculate, but this may rise to about 10 percent if our plans are executed successfully."
