Betting big on emerging markets to achieve its goal to have 8 per cent market share globally, Japanese auto major Nissan today said it will launch 10 new models, including the Datsun brand, in India by 2016.
The company, which will be introducing 51 new models by 2015-16 globally, also said it will look to expand production capacity in India, either through new plants or the existing plant at Chennai.
“Expansion in emerging markets, BRICS is key to achieve this goal of 8 per cent global market share. India is a significant market for us. We will launch 10 new models by FY’16, which is introducing two new models every year,” Nissan Motor Co Corporate vice-president (Africa, Middle East and India) Toru Hasegawa told PTI.
The company is targeting to have 60 per cent of its total global sales to come from emerging markets by FY’16 as compared to just 40 per cent in FY07.
This year it is targeting a global market share of 6.7 per cent with sales of over 5.3 million units. In 2011, it had sold 4.67 million units globally.
The company today launched its multi-utility vehicle Evalia priced between Rs 8.49 lakh and Rs 9.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
“India is a fast growing market and we want to grow faster than the market and model like the Evalia, which is a made in India product, will help us,” Nissan Motor India Managing Director and CEO Takayuki Ishida said.
When asked what are the segments the company is looking to focus in India, he said: “We are looking at all the segments. For the small car segment, our Datsun brand will cover but we will have a range of products. For building our brand image, we need to have products such as SUVs and we have those in our portfolio.”
Elaborating on the launch plan for Datsun, he said by FY’14, two products from the brand would be launched in India, Indonesia and Russia and another one would follow in three years after these have been launched.
Asked if the Datsun brand will be sold under same sales network as Nissan in India, he said: “There will be separate teams for Datsun and Nissan but initially, we may sell Datsun from the same showroom with Nissan. Once the volumes expand, then Datsun can have its own showrooms.”
When asked about further investments in India, Mr Hasegawa said the company has not yet decided India at the moment but would need to do in future as volumes expand.
“We are constantly studying as to how to meet the increasing demand. Soon our Chennai plant will reach the four lakh capacity (annual) then we will decide if we need an additional plant or reinforce the existing plant,” he said.
Nissan and its parent Renault have jointly invested Rs. 4,500 crore at the Chennai plant which produces models from both the companies.
Commenting on expectations from the Indian market, Mr Hasegawa said: “This year we are targeting to have about two per cent market share, which will be double from last year and the next step would be 3 per cent in 2013. Ideally speaking, we would also like to have 8 per cent market share in India by FY’16 in line with the overall global target.”
