Nissan India hikes Magnite base model price by Rs 50,000, claims 32,000 bookings

Nissan Motor India finally seems to be going in the right direction with its latest offering – the Nissan Magnite compact crossover. Launched on December 2, this attractively-priced car is giving competition to even midsized hatchbacks alongside arch rivals in the compact SUV segment in terms of the value on offer.

However, the company management is also seemingly adopting some clever marketing tactics to draw buyers into its showrooms. While it had announced that the prices of the car were introductory and would be valid till December 31, Nissan Motor India has today issued a press statement stating that the Magnite will continue to be available across all its dealerships in the country at the special introductory prices on most variants “until further notice”.

Moreover, Nissan Motor India claims a healthy 32,800 bookings since launch leading to an extremely high waiting period for the crossover which it aims to reduce to “two to three months” by introducing a third shift at its factory in Chennai and deploying an additional 1,000 people at the manufacturing facility. The company says it will also enhance the number of staffers at its 150 (approximate) touchpoints across India to meet the “overwhelming” demand.

According to Ashwani Gupta, COO, Nissan Motor Company, “The overwhelmingly positive response we have received for the all-new Nissan Magnite is a great testament to Nissan’s commitment to driving innovation in India through world-class design, product technology and manufacturing.”

“We are happy to reinforce our industrial strategy with a third shift to meet increasing customer demand. We hope to continue our contribution to the manufacturing and industrial sector in the country and help create further job opportunities during this uncertain period,” Gupta added.

Nissan Motor India, which shares its manufacturing facility with alliance partner Renault India, operates out of the 480,000-unit capacity plant in Oragadam, Chennai, with an additional capacity to build up to 750,000 units of engines and gearboxes per annum at the same facility, which are primarily exported out of India.

The company had sold 5,448 units in the domestic market between April and November 2020, with a miniscule 0.37 percent share of the passenger vehicle market, implying that most of the assembly capacity is lying underutilised. 

Sinan Ozkok, president, Nissan Motor India, said, “Our endeavour is to enhance our customers’ satisfaction through shorter waiting period of two to three months. This requires additional employment to increase the production and delivery capacity. We are hiring more than 1,000 people in our plant and we have already reinforced our dealer network team. We will also be passing all the benefits of economies of scale to our customers for their belief in the big, bold, beautiful and charismatic SUV by the continuity of our introductory prices.”

Shelving price hike
While it has revised the prices of the entry-level base Magnite XE trim by Rs 50,000 to make the pricing for the crossover now start at Rs 549,000 ex-showroom, India, the company has kept the prices for the remaining variants unchanged till any further notice.

The Nissan Magnite comes with two engine options; the 1.0-litre naturally-aspirated version with a standard manual transmission is available from Rs 549,000 to Rs 769,000, ex-showroom, India, while the more powerful 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol with manual and CVT options ranges between Rs 699,000 and Rs    959,000 ex-showroom, India, significantly undercutting the competition.

“Customers have given their overwhelming response with record level of bookings and as our token of our appreciation, we would like to continue the special introductory price till further notice,” said Rakesh Srivastava, managing director, Nissan Motor India.