Nissan's latest SUV for the Indian market, the Magnite compact SUV, has not only turned the tide for the brand but has helped get the alliance's Oragadam plant back to full steam.
- Oragadam plant is the home to models from Nissan, Datsun and Renault
- Plant exports cars to over 69 countries across the globe
The Oragadam plant: back on track
The plant initially started building vehicles on the V-platform like the Micra, Sunny, Pulse and the Scala and it also produced the M0 platform based models like the Terrano, Kicks, Duster, Captur and the Lodgy.
However, as most of these models phased out, the plant was vastly underutilized. Newer offerings underpinned by the CMF-A platform like the Kwid, and more recent CMF-A+ models like the Triber however have helped bring business back on track and with the Magnite the plant has had to add a third shift to keep waiting periods in check.
This development has also required Nissan to hire over 1,000 new employees at the Oragadam plant and over 500 new executives at its dealerships. So the Magnite has certainly come as a shot in the arm for the plant as well as Nissans dealers too. At this time, Nissan has 123 sales outlets in India, 20 of which were added just before the launch of the Magnite.
India is also the global production hub for the Magnite, and Nissan has already launched it in Indonesia, with exports to Nepal, Thailand and South Africa set to follow. Furthermore this plant serves as the mother plant for all right-hand drive CMF-A platform cars that are sold globally, these include the Nissan Magnite and also the Renault Triber and Kiger. Additionally, there are five engines produced here that power these vehicles. The plant is also a major source of around 3,912 parts that are sent to other plants that assemble alliance vehicles.
The Oragadam plant: Background facts
The Renault-Nissan Oragadam plant is spread over a massive 640 acres and was first commissioned back in 2010 as the alliance's first joint Renault-Nissan plant for vehicles to be sold in India and to export markets. This plant has been established with a huge investment of Rs 61 billion and currently employees around 7,800 people at various levels.
The plant has a production capacity of 4,00,000 units annually and has so far produced more than 2.1 million cars and SUVs in total. More than a million of these have been exported to around 69 countries.
Presently, ten vehicles are built at this facility for Nissan, Datsun and Renault models globally which consists of the Sunny (export only), Kicks and Magnite while the Datsun Go, Go+ and Redigo are produced as well. Renault models built here are the Duster, Kwid, Triber and Kiger.
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
