Renault-Nissan Eyeing Production of 2.5 Lakh Cars This Year

The car plant of the joint venture of Renault and Nissan near Chennai is all geared up to double its production consecutively for the third year with a total output of 250,000 units this year. The second production line was commissioned by the plant of Renault Nissan Automotive Pvt. Ltd. in March in order to exhaust the committed capacity of more than 400,000 cars a year. According to the Senior Vice-President of the Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Koji Takei with the investment of Rs. 4,500 crore the deadline for full capacity will be beaten by three years. The company’s Oragadam plant which lies 45 km west of Chennai is 80 percent complete.

The company is all set to roll out Nissan Evalia in New York next year which is a passenger car being introduced to the taxi fleet of the city. Another car all geared up for breaking the covers is the Renault Duster which is claimed to be an SUV-like vehicle. The company had produced 75,000 cars in the year 2010; the number then grew to 1.35 lakh units in the last year. Since the company is eyeing to utilize the full capacity of the plant for next year which gives birth to major expectations of growth in global terms but the company has not decided on the final plans yet.

Mr. Takei indicated that there is still a scope of expansion in the marketing strategy that could match the capacity and last year 70 percent of the 1.35 lakh units were exported and around 39,000 cars were put on sale in the domestic market which is due to the ongoing expansion of the sales outlets. Mr. Takei also stated that the facility near Chennai is 640-acre big which is sufficient enough to have a major expansion which will be in line with the demand. The component suppliers have also been invited by Renault-Nissan for the purpose of setting up their plant in the industrial suburb of Chennai so that the speed of the delivery can be increased. Out of almost 100 companies supplying parts for the development of car 50 percent are based out of place neighboring Chennai. The other 50 percent are operative in New Delhi, Pune and Bangalore and sourcing supplies from there is not intelligent as the transport process takes around a week.

Renault- Nissan Automotive Pvt. Ltd. plant in the Oragadam has an exceptionally skilled workforce of 5,000 workers which has helped the company achieve best standard on a global level when it comes to quality. While addressing a Japanese External Trade Organization meeting, Mr. Takei mentioned that Renault-Nissan has a policy under which for the initial 5-10 years the company gives the responsibility of top management to the local skilled people. He also stated that the setting up of the production plant in Chennai, the company has earned the reputation of auto manufacturing hub amongst the car makers from around the world like Hyundai, BMW and Ford.