Nissan Motor India has notched a milestone of having exported a total of 700,000 ‘Made in India’ Nissan and Datsun cars. The landmark comes seven years after the Japanese manufacturer began exporting from India. The cars, manufactured at the Renault-Nissan Automotive India plant in Chennai, have been sold in 106 countries.
Commenting on the landmark, Guillaume Sicard, president, Nissan India operations, said, “The achievement of this export milestone for Nissan clearly indicates the recognition of Indian production quality and its appeal to customers on the global stage. We are happy to play our part in promoting made-in-India cars across the world.”
“Coupled with this exports achievement, in January we were the fastest growing domestic auto company in the country, and overall the second fastest growing OEM this fiscal year so far. The teams at our manufacturing facility and R&D operations in Chennai have worked tirelessly to help us achieve these milestones in our domestic and international markets. With our plans to launch eight new products for the Indian market by 2021 as announced earlier, the future is bright and exciting for Nissan in India,” added Sicard.
“We aim to remain one of the largest automotive exporters from India as part of our commitment to support the Make-in-India vision. By using our manufacturing plant in Chennai, which is one of the largest Renault-Nissan Alliance plants, we are well positioned to cater to the demands from overseas as well as future markets,” Guillaume Sicard had told our sister publication Autocar Professional last year.
India is not only a key hub for completely built-up units (CBU) but also for parts supply. Nissan India exports over 2,500 types of manufactured parts to 25 Nissan and Renault plants in 18 countries, ranking in the top four in volume of parts shipped within Nissan global operations. Nissan has been exporting vehicles from Kamarajar Port (formerly Ennore port) in Chennai since 2010 to various regions, including Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and other destinations in Asia and Africa. For Nissan, the Micra has been the most-exported model out of India; other export models in its product line-up include the Nissan Sunny, Datsun Go, Datsun Go+ and the Datsun Redigo.