Nissan India ‘V’ platform to offer hatch, sedan and a mini-MPV versions

Japan's third largest carmaker, Nissan Motor Company, which had earlier said it will offer 5 locally-built cars in the Indian market, is looking to leverage on its 'V' platform. Initially, the company will roll out a hatchback car, which will replace the March/Micra subcompact in Europe, following a sedan version next year and later a mini-MPV.

 

While inaugurate company's dealership in Pune, Nissan Motor India CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama  confirmed that five of the nine models due for launch in India till 2012 will be made at the company's Chennai facility. Three of them will be on the newly-developed compact car 'V' platform. The first will be a hatchback, followed by a sedan in 2011, while the third model is yet to be finalised, he said. The remaining four models will be imported as completely-built up (CBU) cars from Japan.  

 

"The Chennai factory, co-owned by French partner Renault SA, plans to ship 110,000 units of Nissan's new global compact car in 2011, mainly to Europe, expanding that to 180,000 "in the near future", Tokuyama said.  Even though Tokuyama did not disclose how many of the compact cars it will build for local consumption, he said Nissan wanted to at least match its global market share of about 5.5 percent in India as soon as possible.

 

When queried about the company's global sourcing plans, Kiminobu Tokuyama, managing director told reporters, "India will be export hub for components for our plants in Taiwan, Thailand and Japan. For 2010, we are planning to source US$10 million worth of volume from India, which would be scaled up to US$ 20 million by 2011 and US$ 40 million by 2012." He further stated, "We have appointed 97 suppliers across India, some of whose products will be exported to overseas plants," Tokuyama said. Among the parts Nissan Motors is planning to export from India are engine pistols, clutch discs and starter motors.