Renault Nissan to launch four new products, expand product portfolio

Chennai: The Renault Nissan Alliance, a joint venture between automakers Japan-based Nissan and France-headquartered Renault, would launch four new products in the near future, a top official said here on Wednesday. Renault Nissan Alliance Chairperson Jean-Dominique Senard said India is at the heart of the alliance and every part of car manufacturing happens at the India plant.

Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd is a joint venture company between Nissan and Renault in India and currently retails five products with two being sold under the Nissan platform and three with the Renault badge.

On a short visit to the city, Senard, flanked by Nissan Motor Corporation President and CEO Makoto Uchida and Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo, said March 27th marks the 25th anniversary of the alliance in India. "This is our first visit to India and India will continue to have a major role in our alliance. The alliance has invested $1.8 billion so far," he told reporters. "India is at the heart of the alliance and Tamil Nadu is chosen for its dynamism and the potential it offers," he said.

According to company officials, the Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd facility produces 2.7 million cars per year of which 1.2 million are shipped to over 100 countries. The Chennai plant at Oragadam located about 45 km from here, operating in two shifts, produces 480 cars per day. "India is not just a market. It has a vibrant ecosystem (for automobile manufacturers). We are totally confident in strengthening the alliance (between Renault and Nissan). Tamil Nadu is the second largest economy in India and many of our competitors have recognised that potential and have set up base here," Senard said.

He also said the Tamil Nadu government authorities have heavily invested considering the future. Dwelling on the India alliance between the two auto majors, Senard said Renault Nissan have sold 1.4 million cars thereby achieving 90 per cent localisation levels. "About 2.7 million cars are produced in India (at the Chennai plant) and half of them (1.2 million) are exported to over 100 countries," he said. The Oragadam factory, the first such facility for Renault-Nissan, has produced 4.4 million powertrains and the Nissan Magnite and Renault Kiger range of cars are Made in India, for India and to the world. Nissan produces its hatchback Magnite for the domestic market while it exports mid-size sedan Sunny to left-hand drive markets. Renault produces premium hatchback Kiger, entry level hatchback Kwid and seven seater multipurpose vehicle - Triber from the Chennai plant.

Sharing details about the proposed new launches, Nissan Motor Company Managing Director and CEO Uchida said two cars from Nissan would comprise a C-segment 7-seater Sports Utility Vehicle and the other would be a 5-seater Sports Utility Vehicle. Renault has also planned to launch similar products in the pipeline. Besides serving the domestic market, the products planned to be launched would also be meeting the export requirement, he said. To a query, he said Nissan expects to export 100,000 products from India. Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo intervened and said, "the cars would be parallelly launched (by both Nissan and Renault). The production of cars will be on the new generation CMF-B platform." Asked about investments, he said the auto majors have already announced commitments of $600-700 million.

"We have stated about $600-700 million (of investments). It is a kind of substantial investment. We will do it in the next two-three years," he said and added substantial investments go behind in the development of a vehicle in the form of auto component suppliers. On the launch of electric vehicles, he remained 'non-committal' and said the companies were under 'discussion' and focused on exports from India. "We do understand (about the EV market in India) but we are in discussions about (launch of) EVs," he said. "We need to find our secret sauce here to succeed in India. Compared to Maruti-Suzuki, we are small here. But we have significant strength and that can be brought to India," he said. "We acknowledge the great alliance we have here in India. It is a great asset that we are building (here) and never underestimate the strength of this alliance. We are not going to let them go," he quipped.