Nissan India to foray into used-car business

Following in the footsteps of its global peers like General Motors, BMW, et al, Nissan Motor Company too is drawing up plans to enter the used car business in India. G.M Singh, vice-chairman and MD of Hover Automotive India (P) Ltd, the service partner of Nissan, said the foray into used cars would be after the proposed small car is launched for Indian roads.

 

Incidentally, Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India, the 50:50 joint venture of automakers Renault and Nissan, has told reporters that it would ramp up its headcount from 1,200 currently to 1,500 by the end of this year, citing a senior official of the company. Till date, about Rs. 65 crore has been invested into the R&D effort in India.

 

"We are happy on the progress of research and development. A small team is engaged (now) in the research of fuel cell membrane," Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Senior Vice-President Grahame Cornforth told reporters on the sidelines of a an event. The unit has 1,200 staff and intends adding another 300. The centre will work on developing new platforms for cars as well as derivatives of existing ones, and some of these cars may come into India, Cornforth said, adding that the centre also contributes to Nissan's digital vehicle development. He also told reporters, "These days, there are no prototypes as the vehicles are developed and tested on the computer and the Nissan centre is involved in this in a major way. The Renault-Nissan unit also contributes to Nissan global operations in areas such as advanced research and development, advanced computer-aided engineering and information systems development."

 

India is not only the production hub for compact cars for the Japanese automotive major Nissan Motor Company; it is also tipped to be the company's R&D hub. Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, for advanced research and development in key areas such as Computer Aided Engineering, product development and digital vehicle development. Some 140 scientists and engineers are in the process of occupying space at the science park that is being put up by the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. This centre will focus on research into fuel cells, especially in the area of raising their efficiency, Grahame Cornforth told presspersons in Chennai.