Indians to 'guide' Nissan in car making

Nissan is developing three new vehicles for global markets and the center of all the development process is the 'Indian consumer'

Japanese auto major, Nissan, which has struggled in India so far, has overhauled its strategies for the country to make a renewed pitch.

A senior official of Nissan Motor Corporation says, the company is developing three new vehicles for global markets and the centre of all these development processes is not an American, European or Chinese consumer but an Indian one.

So far, the company has had negligible presence in the Indian market, with a market share of 1.5 per cent, despite making a debut 10 years ago. Nissan's range includes hatchbacks, sedans, budget and premium sports utility vehicles, vans and even a sports car.

SHIFTING GEARS

• Nissan is developing three new vehicles for global markets, keeping Indian consumers in mind
• Has invested more than Rs 15,000 crore ($2.5 billion) in India with global partner Renault

However, each of the models sold in India were not only developed outside but had a ‘lead customer’ was not an Indian. For example, Nissan’s only sedan, Sunny, was developed having the US consumer in mind, while the older generation Micra hatchback focused on Europe and Japanese buyers.

Andy Palmer, chief planning officer, Nissan Motor Corporation, said, “I am trying to understand of what, particularly the youth of India, will demand. I have at least three cars in the coming portfolio in the five-year plan where the Indian customer is the lead customer, even though we may sell the car on a global basis or a partial global basis.”

Having invested more than Rs 15,000 crore ($2.5 billion) in India along with global partner Renault, Nissan aims to take on Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra.

According to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Nissan clocked three% growth in sales at 38,220 units last year. However, much of that growth has come from incremental sales from its newly revived sister brand Datsun. The Sunny, for instance, recorded a fall of 67% during the same year.

"Sunny was a example where the lead customer was an American. That's how we design cars, We don't design cars for clusters, we design cars for people who happen to be part of that cluster. We try to pick an individual and make sure that customers like that individual like the car. That is how we make the cars customer specific", added Palmer.

Further Nissan promises to launch a vehicle in India which will create a new segment for itself as there exists none for it at the moment. "At least one of the cars we are working on doesn't exist today, we are trying to anticipate that demand for that category will open up", added Palmer.

Nissan's altered strategy for India is bolstered by the product success of the locally developed light commercial vehicle (LCV) Dost, which it developed with Chennai-based heavy truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland. The LCV became the best competitor to Tata Motors' top selling mini truck Ace.

A fruitless partnership for a third party distribution network created a dent in Nissan's operations in India. It ended its tie-up with Hover Automotive who was in-charge of setting up dealerships when instances of negative customer experience began to shore up.

"We are looking at doubling volumes in India. We had to rebuild our distribution network and that slowed us down a bit. At this stage we should have been covering more like 90% of the customers but today we are significantly short of that", added Palmer.