Renault Nissan’s Chennai plant achieved a significant production milestone by manufacturing its one millionth vehicle and the landmark car was a Nissan Micra.
Renault-Nissan’s Chennai plant near Oragadam achieved a significant production milestone by manufacturing its one millionth vehicle this week. The one millionth landmark car was a Nissan Micra which rolled off the line at 12:15 PM yesterday. The Oragadam plant in Chennai started its operation in March 2010, following an Rs. 4500 crore initial investment. This plant particularly is the largest Alliance production facility in the world.
The plant caters to both domestic and international markets with Renault-Nissan becoming India’s second largest car exporter with more than 6,00,000 units shipped to 106 countries since 2010. The Alliance has since invested a further Rs. 1600 crores to increase capability with a world-class powertrain manufacturing facility and tooling. Adding more to its success, the annual production volume has risen from an initial 75,000 units in the 2010 financial year, to over 2,00,000 units by the end of 2015.
While Nissan isn’t selling too well in the Indian market, they have been doing good numbers in exports which has made the Chennai plant a production success. Besides Renault and Nissan, the automaker also produces Datsun cars which serve both the domestic as well as export markets.
The manufacturing plant and R&D facility accounted for 12,000 direct jobs in Tamil Nadu, with a further 40,000 in the supply chain, making for a good contribution to the local economy. Nissan has, since 2010, launched two new models every year. The most recent model to be produced at the plant is the popular Renault Kwid which was launched in September last year.
