Nissan Motor recently completed 10 years in India and is now gearing up for the challenges ahead in this competitive market. Guillaume Sicard, President, Nissan India Operations, discusses all this and more.
How has fiscal 2014-15 been for Nissan?
It has been a turnaround year for us, the best so far in India since we came. We have increased sales by 35 per cent and are going to be among the top three automakers in growth, as compared to last year. We are also increasing our network coverage from 140 to 160 dealers this year and further to 300 by end-2016. So there is a lot of push around marketing and we have recruited 120 people over the last eight months. We are starting to have a positive momentum with Datsun as well, which is a good sign. The Go+ is also growing and we have every reason to be happy.
Exports were part of the strategy when we first set up operations here. The objective was to have a good hub and we are following that route with domestic sales also keeping pace. Right now, exports are stable and we do not have any plans to ramp up numbers. In the long term, we have to keep pushing domestic sales with 30-40 per cent growth every year. We have grown by nearly 35 per cent in the local market with around 43,000 units sold between April 2014 and February this year.
Will your retail expansion include smaller centres?
We are developing and making sure that we have good coverage across most important cities. And we need to be particularly focused on growing the Datsun brand.
How upbeat are you on Datsun?
At present, our share is around three per cent in this segment which is the biggest in India. Maruti Suzuki is on top with around 75 per cent with Hyundai at (around) 22 per cent. We are next with three per cent but this was two per cent just a few months ago. In India, it is hard to come all of a sudden with a new brand that nobody knows and show very high figures. All this takes time and you need to progress step-by-step which is what we are doing. You need to build awareness and this will take a few years for us but we hope to gradually increase the buyer base each year. Once you have built a brand, you need to put extra effort into promoting it and we need to make sure that we do both at the same time. Our customer satisfaction rate is good, which is important to us.
Are there plans to set up a facility beyond Chennai?
There is no plan as of now for capacity expansion. We have 4.80 lakh units annually for Nissan and Renault combined. We may look for a new plant in the future as and when we require capacity for the domestic and export markets. Renault and Nissan may use the same platform like the engine but the body in itself will have nothing in common. This is the way we are going to evolve. Vendors will, of course, remain the same which is the core of the alliance strategy.
Nissan is going to launch the (directly imported) Patrol with a price tag of over ₹1 crore. Do you see a market for such products here?
It can be a good part of our strategy. Patrol has had good reviews from experts around the world and won 24 awards the last year. Clearly, making such a car in India would call for very high investments. I really wish we could import some cars with the best know-how but the problem is the high taxes!