Nissan Motor to ramp up distribution

CHENNAI - By 2013, Japanese car marketing company Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd will ramp up its distribution network to 100 from the current 21 and also increase its product portfolio to nine, a top company official said Monday.

“We are ramping up our dealer network to 100 by 2013 from the current 21. Next year we will be launching a sedan model and in 2012 a multi-purpose vehicle to be built in joint venture with Ashok Leyland,” Kiminobu Tokuyama, managing director and CEO, said.

He said by 2012 the company will have nine models to sell.

Queried about the sales of Nissan Motor’s first Indian model Micra that hovers over 1,000 units per month since its launch in July, Hover Automotive India’s Chief Executive Officer Dinesh Jain said: “We are satisfied with the sales and it is as per our plans.”

Hover Automotive India P Ltd takes care of the dealer network for Nissan Motor India.

“We have an order booking of 8,000 units for Micra (petrol and diesel engines) and we are satisfied with the monthly sales,” he said.

Some time back, a senior official of Hyundai Motor India Ltd publicly said Micra is not a concern for his company because of the smaller distribution network, whereas Ford India Pvt Ltd’s Figo model is a bigger threat.

Agreeing that the pricing of models is becoming aggressive in the Indian car market, Jain, however, said Nissan Motor India and Hover Automotive are not largely bothered by any price war.

According to Tokuyama, the Nissan-Renault joint venture car plant at Orgadam near here makes around 15,000 cars per month.

“Our plan is to make 80,000 units here for domestic as well as export markets. The company started exports of Micra to Europe in October and has shipped out 15,000 units,” Tokuyama said.

He said the diesel variant is only for the Indian market and not for overseas markets.

Queried about exports of components, he said the company has revised upwards its target from $10 million to $25 million worth of components out of India this year.

“The quality and the price of components are better and hence we have increased the component exports. We export Micra model components - engine and vehicle parts - to other Nissan plants that make the model,” he added.

According to him, the petrol engine is assembled at its Indian plant with domestic and imported components while the diesel engine is fully imported.