Nissan to heat up Indian car market

Published On Dec 14, 2009 12:21 PM By Meenal for Nissan X-Trail

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The Indian car market in 2010, Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd, that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nissan Motors, Japan, is getting ready for the fight, first by beefing up its distribution network. Kiminobu Tokuyama, managing director and CEO, told that by the end of this month the company will be adding three more, taking the total dealerships to 11. By 2012 they will have 55 dealers to cover 85 percent of the Indian car market. Kiminobu Tokuyama also added by saying that it is not the number of dealers that is important. But the most important thing is to have right number of dealers at right places so that each dealer is able to achieve operational success. On the products side in India, Nissan will be using a mixed strategy of importing completely built units and locally made cars at its fast coming up Oragadam plant near here and the ones to be made by Bajaj Auto at Pune.

According to Tokuyama, in 2010 the company will be launching its sports car C702 alongwith one more model. Joining the CBUs - XTrail, Teana, C702 and an unnamed one will be the much expected compact car to be rolled out of its Oragadam plant next May. Two more models on the same platform will be built, one will be a sedan and the other is expected to be a utility vehicle. Globally Nissan enjoys a market share of 5.5 percent and the company is looking forward to achieve more with their model line up and dealer network. Apart from the models that will be rolled out of its 200,000 per annum Oragadam plant, Nissan will get its low cost car from Bajaj Auto in Pune and the light commercial vehicles out of its joint venture with Ashok Leyland Ltd. Enquiring about the company's marketing strategy with many other players in line like Volkswagen, Ford India, General Motors and others planning to launch a compact car next year, Kiminobu Tokuyama said the strategy is being worked out nothing has been revealed as yet. Volkswagen Polo is the upcoming car whereas, Volkswagen Tourge is the new launched car in India.