Nissan to use new capacity for exports in near term

Nissan Motor India will use the capacity of new production line of two lakh vehicles per annum from March for exports.

"The two lakh capacity which will be added from the second line will be mostly used for export of vehicles from India till domestic sales pick up," Hover Automotive India VP (operations) Manoj Kumar said here today at inauguration of Chandrani Nissan showroom.

Hover Automotive India is the partner of Nissan Motor India to run the sales, marketing, service, parts, training & dealer development functions in the Indian market for the Nissan range of products.

Nissan Motor Managing Director & CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama said the production in the second line of vehicle-cum-engine manufacturing factory of Renault-Nissan combine near Chennai will begin from August.

Currently, majority of the sales of cars from the Nissan stable accounts for exports of Micra and Sunny models.

Kumar said Nissan will continue to focus on domestic sales and exports will not be done at cost of domestic sales.

"We are increasing the number of sales network from 51 to 100 by 2013. We are looking at 1,00,000 car sales by 2013-14," he said.

In FY12, Nissan was targeting 40,000 car sales and the company said its sales was on track.

Asked about introduction of sub-Micra car in the market, Tokuyama said the project is still at conceptual stage but it is 'rumoured' that the entry level car could see light of the day in mid-2013.