The Renault-Nissan Alliance plant in Oragadam, Chennai reached the one-million production milestone today. The car that achieved this production mark was a Nissan Micra.
The plant that commenced operations in 2010, is the Alliance's largest production facility in the world. It is complemented by a major R&D facility which is also in Chennai. The Alliance has invested a total of Rs 6,100 crore in the plant, which manufactures cars for both domestic and export markets, and has shipped over 6 lakh units to 106 countries since 2010. The plant has a regular production capacity of 2,00,000 units, and 4,80,000 units at full ramp-up, as of CY 2015.
The plant has produced 32 Nissan, Datsun and Renault models, with the latest one being the Renault Kwid. The facility will also manufacture Datsun’s upcoming car, the RediGo, which is slated for launch soon.
Here’s the timeline of Alliance’s plant since it started production in 2010:
2010
March- Plant inauguration
May- Nissan Micra production starts
September- Start of exports
2011
February- Nissan Teana production starts
April- Renault Fluence production starts
June- Production milestone of 1 lakh cars achieved
August- Nissan Sunny production starts
December- Renault Pulse production starts
2012
May- Renault Duster production starts
July- Renault Duster production starts
2013
September- Achieved production mark of 5 lakh cars
Nissan Terrano production starts
2014
January- Datsun Go production starts
September- Datsun Go+ production starts
December- Renault Lodgy production starts
2015
September- Renault Kwid production starts
Export of K9K Engine 3C parts to Spain
2016
January- Achieves production of 1,000,000 cars
Together, the plant and the R&D facility account for 12,000 jobs in Tamil Nadu, with another 40,000 jobs created across the Alliance’s supply chain networks.