Nissan Motor, which has doubled Micra capacity at its Chennai manufacturing facility, is also gearing up to roll out five new models in the country by next year. With this, Nissan will have nine models under its belt. Of the five new models, four would be manufactured in Chennai, Nissan Motor India MD & CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama said.
?By 2012 we will be having nine products, including five ones to be launched soon. Of the five new products, one will be a sedan, which will be launched by middle of next year, followed by an SUV, a passenger version of LCV (in association with Ashok Leyland under Nissan brand name) and two other cars to be decided at a later stage,? he said.
All the four cars will be manufactured under its existing V-Platform, which gives flexibility to make different cars at different time with different specifications. The passenger LCV, to be made under ALL JV, would be that of NV 200 which has been awarded ‘International van of the year 2010’ for its huge cargo space, compact body, he said.
Meanwhile, to meet the increasing demand, the company has increased production of Micra to 500 units per day from 250 units. The company has introduced second shift in the factory to increase production, the company’s spokes person told in an email reply to FE.
?This number is expected to increase in the near term as we continue to ramp up production to meet domestic and exports demand. There has been an overwhelming response for the top variant of the Nissan Micra which has far exceeded our expectations,? he said.
Micra sales has increased ever since its launch in India in the mid July. Currently, waiting period for Micra XL is around one month and that for top variant is around two months. ?As a result of this, we were encouraged to re-align our initial production schedule to cater to this huge demand. We hope to manage the situation in the coming months? he said. The company sold 2,110 units of Micra in 45 days since its launch in mid July while its current order book stands at 4,000 bookings. The company plans to start exporting from October. The company hopes to export around 1.10 lakh units of Micra in the first year of operations.
The company has started producing its first compact hatchback at its Chennai facility, which has been set up along with its global partner Renault with an investment of Rs 4,500 crore.