Renault Nissan Alliance has asserted that the move towards garnering a piece of action in the ‘A’ and ‘A minus’ segments of the Indian car market fits perfectly into its strategy of becoming a global car maker who has presence across all segments of the industry.
Indicating this in an interview with The Hindu on Wednesday post-inauguration of its green-field facility at Oragadam near here, Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of Renault Nissan Alliance, said the proposed entry into these segments must also be read more as a part of its exercise to increase its global offerings.
Asserting that ‘A’ and ‘A minus’ cars fitted into the volume game, he said these cars held out huge potential not just in India but also in emerging markets such as Iran and Nigeria. “These markets are now coming up fast,” he pointed out.
Answering a range of questions, he said the Alliance had very little leeway vis-à-vis pricing Nissan Micra, the car that just rolled out of its brand new assembly line. The differentiation, however, had to come in terms of features, he added.
Mr. Ghosn said the multi-partner strategy of Renault Nissan Alliance was peculiar to India. The Indian market was sophisticated and very different from rest of the world, he felt. “We have to be very cautious,” he added. No where else in the global marketplace could one see the kind of segmentations that existed in the Indian car market, he pointed out. One needed different teachers for learning different subjects, he said, justifying the multi-partner strategy.
On the Logan, he hinted that a solution could be reached at. A technical centre that had been set up could work on finding a way out, he said. The technical centre, he said, would evaluate Logan and come up with a solution that addressed the local requirements.
The biggest challenge before him was to make people perceive Renault Nissan Alliance as a major player in India. Both Nissan and Renault were very small in India though they were among the top four in the international arena. According to Mr. Ghosn, hiring the right talent could prove even bigger a challenge for the Alliance in India. He also felt that it was important to ensure that the engineering resources in India were effectively used by other outfits of the Alliance across the globe.
