Nissan headquarters to move from Mumbai to Gurgaon by April

Move will bring car maker closer to policy makers and large car markets like Delhi, Haryana and UP

Japanese car maker Nissan has decided to relocate its India headquarters from Mumbai to Gurgaon by April next year. The move will bring it closer to policy makers and the markets of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

North India happens to be a major passenger vehicle market, about 30 per cent of passenger vehicle demand. Nissan lost market share in the April-October period, the first seven months of the current financial year.

Early this year, Renault, its global alliance partner, also shifted its India sales and marketing office from Chennai, to Gurgaon. The Renault-Nissan alliance has a manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu, set up with an investment of Rs 6,100 crore. Nissan also sells cars under the Datsun brand. “Nissan has an improved and focused strategy towards the goal of being a major player in the domestic market. To move to the next stage of our development, we have taken the decision to move our India headquarters,” Arun Malhotra, managing director, Nissan Motor India, told Business Standard. The company had opened the Mumbai office in May last year. About 100 employees are expected to relocate.

“Gurgaon is one of the largest automotive clusters, so we will benefit from close proximity to policy makers in the government and industry bodies like Siam (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers),” said Malhotra.

The National Capital Region is home to the corporate offices or sales headquarters of top entities in the passenger vehicle and two-wheeler segments. In the former, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Honda Cars and Ford India are based in the region. So do top two-wheeler makers Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motor & Scooter India and Eicher Motors. Luxury car maker BMW is also based at Gurgaon. The region, especially the Gurgaon-Manesar belt, is also the leading hub for automobile component makers.

Nissan is the ninth largest entity in the domestic passenger vehicle market, below two per cent in the year ended March 2015. In the April-October period this year, its sales fell 23 per cent over a year before, to 22,810 units. It is also the fourth largest exporter of passenger vehicles from India..