Malhotra to be new MD of Nissan India

Japanese automobile major Nissan has roped in Arun Malhotra, the former head of international sales at Mahindra & Mahindra, as managing director of its India entity.

In August, as part of an organisational change, Mahindra & Mahindra had elevated Malhotra as the head of international operations of tractors.

When contacted Nissan declined to comment. Malhotra also declined to comment. However, sources close to him said he would be joining an automotive company and an announcement would be made in the next two-three days.

Last week, Nissan had appointed 45-year old Guillaume Sicard the new president of its India operations. He will be responsible for the company's all operations in India, including manufacturing at the Chennai plant that has an yearly capacity of 400,000 units.

Sources said Malhotra would report to Sicard.

Nissan had earlier tied up with Hover Automotive India for distribution, sales and marketing operations, which was called off in February.

The immediate challenge for Malhotra would be increasing the brand awareness of both Nissan and Datsun, which Sicard had stressed upon during his interview with Business Standard last week.

"Our main focus is to develop the two brands, Nissan and Datsun, and to increase the awareness. These brands should be more on the customers' mind. We have to increase our capacity on the overall communication. We need to connect more. There will be more focused advertising and culturally connected advertising," he said in the interview.

Despite having presence in the small hatchback, sports utility vehicle and multi-purpose vehicle segments, Nissan has been struggling in India mainly due to limited reach and lack of brand awareness.

For the half year period ending September 30, Nissan India had sold 25,741 units, up by 105.7 per cent from 12,515 units sold during the same period of the previous year.