Nissan confident of increasing market share in India

Nissan Motors Co is confident that its India operations will soon be a part of its top three subsidiaries globally — a shift up from its current position in the top 20 list.

The parent company, Nissan, which has a global market share of five percent at present, sold 5.3 million cars worldwide in 2014 — out of which 1.3 million units were sold in the China, the world’s largest market. As of February 2015, Nissan Motor India held a market share of 1.81 percent in the Indian passenger vehicle market. The carmaker expects to achieve a target of five percent by 2020.

Guillaume Sicard, president, Nissan India operations, is keen on expanding the brand's awareness through marketing and on-ground activities.

While Nissan enjoys a top-of-the-mind recall with three out of 10 customers in India — Datsun is a low, one out of 10, which Sicard plans to improve.  Of the total Rs 4,500 crores invested in India, Nissan has directed most of it to setting up the Oragadam plant that has a manufacturing capacity of 400,000 vehicles and 400,000 engines per annum.

In the current fiscal (April 2014-Febraury 2015), of the total 141,694 units produced, 31,309 cars were sold in the domestic market (down 10.24%) and 106,091 units were exported (up 19.46%). According to Sicard, localisation levels in India have gone up to 88 percent. They also export nearly 60 percent of the total units produced annually, which makes Nissan Motor India the country's third largest automobile exporter, after Hyundai Motor India and Maruti Suzuki India.