Five years after beginning exports of passenger cars from its Chennai plant, Nissan Motor India yesterday exported its 500,000th car. The carmaker despatched 120,331 cars overseas in 2014-15 and was the third largest exporter of passenger cars from India after Hyundai Motor India (191,221) and Maruti Suzuki India (121,701).

The Micra hatchback tops with 73 percent of the total exports, followed by the midsize sedan Sunny with 26 percent. Export of the Datsun Go began in September last year to South Africa and Nepal and the volume is less than 2 percent of the total export though the company is bullish on Africa as a potential market for Datsun.

Nissan exports its cars to 106 countries from India. Europe is the largest market with around 70 percent of the export volume, followed by the Middle East with nearly 20 percent. The company also exports to other markets such as Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and Africa. Currently, it exports 65 percent of its total production from India and the rest is for the domestic market.

Nissan, along with its Alliance partner Renault, has made a Rs 4,500 crore investment in a world-class manufacturing plant at Oragadam, near Chennai. The manufacturing plant not only caters to the growing domestic demand but also leverages India’s competitive advantage as an export-oriented hub.

Commenting on the new milestone achievement, Guillaume Sicard, president, Nissan India Operations, said, “India is a key strategic market for Nissan. We have major manufacturing and R&D operations which support us to be one of India’s biggest exporters of cars. While exports help us in optimal utilization of our manufacturing capacity, it also helps showcase world-class Indian production quality on the global stage and expands the scope for widening the export base for India-built cars. The Datsun Go which is developed and manufactured in India, is a good example of ‘Made in India’ and ‘Made by India’.”

For Nissan, India is not only a key hub for completely built units but also for parts supply. The carmaker exports over 1,800 types of manufacturing parts to 34 plants across 24 countries. Nissan India says it stands in the second position in volume of shipping parts within the Nissan world.