Nissan Motor India, which has relaunched most of its models to push up sales, is betting big on its latest launch, Terrano. Nissan sees the sports utility vehicle as its biggest bet in India, and expects it to double the company’s sales in the country.

Terrano has already received 7,000 bookings, even before delivery has begun, Ajay Raghuvanshi, Nissan India Vice-President for Business Management, told Business Line .

The Japanese carmaker, which came to India four years ago, has managed to win a market share of just about 1.5 per cent. “Terrano is priced right (Rs 9.65-12.5 lakh), has good enough bookings and we should see good visibility of our sales numbers by next month,” said Raghuvanshi, who had earlier worked with General Motors India.

Nissan, which shares a manufacturing plant in Chennai with French carmaker Renault, sold about 13,000 units of all its models last fiscal and expects to cross this figure this fiscal, driven by Terrano. The company also hopes the 1.2-lt Datsun Go, which will hit the market in April next year, will boost sales further.

“We want to target Tier 2 and 3 cities because customers there look for robust models with a strong performing engine, which Datsun is,” Raghuvanshi said.

He added Nissan already has a model for the urban youth, the Micra, marked by its distinct class and design. The Datsun Go will play in the sub-Rs 4 lakh market and compete with Hyundai Motor’s Eon and Maruti Suzuki’s Alto. “We believe pricing, features and warranties should get the Datsun a head-start.”

As of now, the Nissan dealers will be selling the Datsun along with other models, but if sales rise, a separate facility will be made available for the Datsun Go. Before 2017, Nissan will add five more products and have about 300 dealers.

Capacity not an issue

All existing models of Nissan are made in India and so would be the Datsun Go. Raghuvanshi said capacity should not be an issue as the common platform technology with Renault means that whenever necessary, the manufacturing of more units of a particular model can be tweaked.

Nissan, the third largest exporter from India, exports cars to the US, Europe and other Asian countries. It has so far exported 3 lakh cars.

Among the existing models, the 7-seater Evalia, a multi-utility vehicle mass mover, has been a laggard and needs more marketing support, which it will get from now on, Raghuvanshi said. “It’s a new concept for India, but we have added more features and relaunched it, which should see it do well in the market.”

> giriprakash.k@thehindu.co.in

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