Nissan India, which is setting up a Rs 4,500 crore car manufacturing facility with Renault in Chennai, said that the project is on schedule and that its first car would roll out before summer 2010. The 50:50 joint venture between Nissan and Renault at Oragadam near Chennai, will have a capacity to manufacture four lakh cars annually and Nissan will initially produce two lakh cars, which it then proposes to scale-up to manufacture up to three lakh cars in about four years time.
“There is no delay, our plans are on track and Nissan India will come out with its next-generation A-segment car- Micra, on schedule before summer 2010,” Nissan Motor India’s Managing Director and CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama said. The Micra hatchback car is named March in Japan and the Indian version would be christened either Micra or March, he added.
As of now the joint venture stands, though Renault, which was to originally roll out its models by mid-2010, has not yet indicated when it would now launch its vehicles from the facility. Nissan proposes to manufacture 4-5 models from its stable in the next 4-5 years.
The Micra would be available in both petrol and diesel engines. Nearly two-third of its production would be exported. The Ennore port in north Chennai would have a dedicated jetty for exports of Nissan cars and the company hopes to export 2-2.5 lakh cars annually in 3-4 years and sell 90,000-1,00,000 units in the domestic market.
