Nissan, Ford and Volkswagen have exported more cars in 2014-15 than they sold in the domestic market. It isn’t too surprising considering domestic sales have been low for these companies.
In a bid to utilize the production facilities to the fullest, many automobile companies use their facilities in India as a base for exports to other nations. This helps them produce cars with lower labour and material costs and sell them for higher prices in other countries. As a result, profitability goes up. While most brands produce more cars for selling within India, there are a few companies which export more cars than their domestic sales. Low domestic sales can be attributed to as one of the main reasons for the same.
In the year 2014-15, three brands exported more cars than they sold locally in India. These include Ford, Nissan and Volkswagen. While Ford relies majorly on the EcoSport for domestic sales, Nissan relies on the Terrano. Volkswagen manages to sell decent numbers of the Polo and Vento in India but that isn’t enough to keep the huge factory running at full steam. Out of the three, Nissan exported the highest number of cars from India which stood at 1,20,000 units, 253% of its domestic sales. Ford numbers are much more balanced and it exported nearly 109% of its domestic sales figure.
Volkswagen performed poorly in domestic sales and managed to sell just 45,000 in one full year. It exported 65,000 units which is 144% of its domestic sales. Where the German brand fails majorly is after sales service which is patchy across the country. However, it is working towards improving the same. With upcoming launches from all these brands for the Indian market, the numbers would change in the near future. The Indian market has the potential for much higher sales and we hope that these brands work at strengthening their position in the country.
Source – EconomicTimes.com
