‘As in China, we want to be ahead of Toyota and Honda in India’

Nissan Motors India Ltd’s drive into India may have been late but Kiminobu Tokuyama, managing director and chief executive officer of the company, told DNA that they are moving fast now to close the gap on rivals. Excerpts:

You have entered into the Indian passenger car market a little late. Does it put you at a disadvantage over your rivals, who have already grabbed a large chunk of the Indian auto pie?
I agree, we are a little late in entering the Indian market, which is already overcrowded in the hatchback segment. However, I won’t say there is a disadvantage in terms of pricing. We believe we have the right pricing. On the hindsight, I feel, since the market is still growing, it is not too late to set up a base here.

How is your compact car faring in the Indian market?
So far, it has exceeded our expectations. The year 2010 has been action packed for us. In May, we launched Micra (petrol variant). We could get a manufacturing unit at Chennai ready in 21 months, which is a record for Nissan anywhere in the world.

At present, we have a capacity to produce 2 lakh units (at our plant in Chennai). We want to increase it to 4 lakh over a period of seven years.

What is your India strategy? Which new models are you planning to get into India and by when?
We want to become a major player here. We are planning to launch a sedan version (of Micra) by the second half of 2012. Today, we have four products available in the Indian market. Expanding this pipeline, we will have a total of nine models by 2012. This includes a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) in collaboration with Ashok Leyland, which will be launched in the second half of next fiscal. It will be called NV200.

How many units of Micra have you sold so far? Also, what about bookings for the diesel version?
Till now, there have been 6,700 bookings for the petrol variant. Of this, we have sold 5,000 units. For the diesel version, we have got 600 bookings.

Nissan has been in China much before its India entry. How would you compare the two markets?
I am not in a position to compare the two markets as I basically look after the Indian segment. But I know that in China we are the leaders and are way ahead of Toyota and Honda. We hope to script a similar story for India.

How many units are you exporting and to which countries?
We at Nissan have positioned India as a global hub (for outsourcing). By October 2011, we wish to export 1.1 lakh units and eventually increase it to 1.8 lakh units over a period of time.

We are exporting to Europe, Middle East and Africa. There is a demand for the diesel version from South Africa. However, nothing has been finalised in this regard.

Every car manufacturer is looking at hybrid and electric cars.

Recently, the government came out with sops for e-cars that would make its manufacturing cheaper. What are your plans on this?
We have developed an electric car — Nissan Leaf — for launch in the US and Japanese markets. However, as of now there are no plans in place for such a car in India. Even as we appreciate the Indian government’s efforts to bring in such sops, we feel that more needs to be done in terms of infrastructure so as to make this thing a reality.