Despite a decade long presence, Nissan has been struggling to gain ground in the Indian auto market and is now going back to the drawing board to make some serious amendments in its future strategies. Even with a varied product line-up across different segments, Nissan has managed to capture only 1.5 percent of market share even after such a long presence in the country. However, as per the company’s new plans, Nissan is working on three new vehicles that will be developed with the Indian consumer as the lead customer.
India being the diverse market it is, global products may not necessarily be successful in the country. While the Micra was developed catering to European customer preferences, the Sunny was developed keeping an American user in mind. The Evalia, which is one of very successful products overseas could not find any takers here. However, the company is now studying the Indian youth and will cater to their demand with their upcoming new vehicles.
Nissan’s next five year plan will see three new vehicles being developed according to the preferences of Indian customers. The company also stated that one of the upcoming cars being developed will create a new segment for itself as there exists none for it at the moment. Nissan’s altered strategy received a push with the success of the Dost light commercial vehicle. The LCV was locally developed in conjunction with commercial vehicle partner Ashok Leyland and became one of the rapid sellers in the segment competing against the Tata Ace.
Having invested over Rs. 15,000 crores in India with partner Renault, Nissan’s long term plan is to compete with Indian auto giants Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Mahindra in terms of volumes. The Japanese auto major clocked 38,220 units in the 2014 fiscal, a growth of 3 percent in sales. However, a significant chunk of growth came from the new Datsun brand, which has been retailing the entry-level GO hatchback in the market. Established products like the Sunny on the other hand saw sales fall by 67 percent during the same period.
After receiving numerous complaints over shoddy servicing, Nissan has had to even rework on its dealerships and after sales and service network after breaking ties with Hover Automotive, who were in charge of setting up the dealer network as well as providing after sales and service to customers. With the premium Infiniti brand also being considered for India, the company is looking to double its volumes in the coming years. Nissan’s sister brand Datsun will be launching the GO+ mini-MPV this year.
