Ghosn back to praising ‘frugal engg’

CHENNAI: More than a year after coining the term “frugal engineering” to describe Indian engineers, Carlos Ghosn, the joint chief of Renault and Nissan, is still not frugal with his praise for Indian techies.

And his love affair with the country, which isn’t exactly globally acclaimed for engineering skills, continues.

Flying in to Chennai, which is fast becoming an auto hub, Ghosn once again lavished compliments on engineers.

"Frugal engineering is achieving more with fewer resources. The cost of developing a product in the West is high since engineers there use more expensive tools. In India, they achieve a lot more with fewer resources," Ghosn said.

Between Nissan and Renault, there are now three joint venture companies with Indian partners for different products. Renault and utility vehicle manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra have a JV to manufacture Logan cars in India.

Renault, Nissan and M&M also have a three-way JV to manufacture cars for the respective principals. Now, Nissan has a JV with Ashok Leyland for the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment.

"We see a lot of opportunities for LCVs in India but we would not have come alone. We were looking for a partner. India is a sophisticated market that requires sophisticated products and we would have wasted a lot of resources had we tried to come alone," Ghosn told media persons here.

There could be more JVs from the group in the future.

Nissan, Renault and Bajaj Auto are in talks to develop and manufacture "ultra low-cost" passenger cars India.

"We will enter into as many JVs as required," said Ghosn, who flew out to Pune to hold interactions with Bajaj Auto officials for the low-cost car.

Ghosn operates out of two continents -Paris in Europe and Tokyo in Asia -and looking at the number of visits he would be making on account of the multiple business interest his group has here, Dheeraj Hinduja, co-chairman, Ashok Leyland, in a lighter note, said that he has a third headquarter in India.