Nissan Motor India to build portfolio of 4 cars, expects equal share from domestic market, exports

Makoto Uchida, the global CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation says the company is redesigning its strategy with the joint venture Renault in India.  

As part of its revamped plan, Nissan Motor not only expects its product portfolio to increase to 4 models in the next three years, but it also plans on bringing in an EV by 2026-27 – a move which should see an uptick in the share of domestic volumes.

As part of its revised plan, the company’s global management expects almost 50% of the volumes produced in India to go towards the export market, to ensure a balanced operation. So far, about 64% of its total output has been shipped to the overseas market, with just one model- Magnite, being sold in the country.

Addressing a question to Autocar, post the announcement of its new mid-term plan called Nissan Arc, Uchida said, “In India, we have a partner in Renault, and we will redesign our formation to go with Renault. There are rich assets that we enjoy in India, and by using them, we would like to use India as a hub for exports. Soon we would like to make an announcement of some kind when we are ready.”

As part of the new plan announced in February 2023, the equity structure of the alliance partners Renault and Nissan was restructured with the plant Nissan Motor holding a majority of 51% stake and Renault 49%, whereas regarding the Renault Nissan Technology Business Centre India – Renault will hold 51% and Nissan 49% - the same was to be operationalised within a year.  

Interestingly, after the global announcement in Japan on Monday, the CEO Uchida of Nissan Motor Corporation as well as its alliance chairman Jean Dominique Senard and partner Renault’s CEO Luca De Meo are visiting India this week to review the local operation and decide on the execution of its next phase in the country.

Guillaume Cartier, Chairperson, Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) at Nissan Motor Corporation said, India is an important part of the mid-term development plan, to generate 1 million (incremental volume) growth.

“We believe in India and this market will grow above 4 million, so we want to increase our presence in the country.  How to do that? We will have more products. So instead of 1 product today, we will have 4. Then we are expanding our strategy on everything that will be EV, we need to be ready by 2026-27. We will make in India for India but also take India as an export hub and in terms of percentage, with 50% share. So, by doing that we have something really balanced inside, that will be different than our initial plan,” added Cartier.

The company aims to augment the capacity utilisation of its manufacturing facility in Oragadam, Chennai, and is planning to ramp up its made-in-India vehicle export volumes to 100,000 units annually in the mid-term, by FY26. The Tamil Nadu plant, which is shared with its global Alliance partner Renault, has a combined annual production capacity of 480,000 units.

While exports, at 60,608 units, accounted for more than 64% of Nissan Motor India’s cumulative volumes (94,219 units) in FY23, the company will now target to grow the annual shipments by an additional 40,000 units by FY26. Nissan Motor India presently exports the Magnite compact SUV to more than 108 global markets such as Latin America, Africa, Middle-East, as well as to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh. The company has recently added a right hand drive version of compact SUV Magnite.

The company commenced its export operations from India in September 2010, and in FY23, accomplished the milestone of exporting a cumulative 1 million cars from the country. “We will continue to leverage our Alliance in India, and India will be a hub for exports at the level of 100,000 units,” said Uchida at the global announcement.

The chairman of the region said the alliance has large assets including a plant and the technical centre with 15,000 employees and the alliance “will continue to grow, so we will have more (employees) in the future,” explained Cartier.