Propelled by strong export order book position, Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt. Ltd. (RNAIPL) is planning to produce 15% more cars during this fiscal, despite a slowdown in the automobile sector, said a top official.
“Due to a buoyancy in export order book position, we are not affected by slowdown in the automobile sector,” said Biju Balendran, MD and CEO, RNAIPL. “Last fiscal, we produced 1.82 lakh units and this year, we expect to produce about 2.1 lakh.” RNAIPL is a joint venture between France-based Renault and Japan’s Nissan to make Renault and Nissan models at its alliance plant in Oragadam. The plant’s annual capacity is 4.8 lakh units.
On Friday, he announced the commencement of export of Datsun GO and GO+ equipped with CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) to South Africa from its alliance plant.
“We recently introduced Datsun GO and GO+ equipped with CVT and have been receiving positive response from customers in India. Now, we are exporting these versions to South Africa. Exports form a key pillar of our India operations, helps grow the local economy and is a firm affirmation of Nissan’s commitment towards building India as one of its key manufacturing hubs globally,” he said.
According to him, Nissan plans to export over 8,000 Datsun units and more than 65,000 Sunny-badged cars in FY20 and FY21. “At the beginning of FY20, we planned to export about 22,000 Sunny cars. But the target was revised mid-way to over 65,000 units due to strong export orders,” he said.
Asserting that the carmaker had been a major exporter of cars from Chennai for the last 10 years, he said that Nissan had exported around 8.8 lakh cars till date.
In the coming months, Nissan India will roll out Datsun Redi-GO with BS-VI complaint engine, he added.
Nissan India ships its cars, engine and components to West Asia, South Africa, Egypt, Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt, sub-Saharan countries and Nepal. Kicks, an SUV, is being exported to Nepal and Bhutan.
