The road ahead for Nissan India

Mr. Guillaume Sicard, President - Nissan India Operations, hinted that the company is studying the viability of bringing its premium luxury brand - Infinity, its well-acclaimed SUV - Patrol or its sports car - GT-R to India, as Completely Built Units (CBU).

Infiniti will have to go the Completely Knocked Units (CKD) route if it wants to gain a competitive advantage against its core rivals - Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. However, Mr. Sicard suggested that they are not looking at any substantial investment at the moment and if introduced, Infiniti too will make it via the CBU route. The Patrol is Nissan's most successful 4x4 SUV sold in several international markets. This SUV has been around since 1951 and enjoys a cult following even today. The GT-R on the other hand needs no introduction - it is Nissan's most high-tech, most powerful offering, termed as a supercar beater by its fans due to its impressive performance statistics. Nissan is currently analysing the degree of impact these halo brands will have on the popularity of its passenger vehicles.

Ever since the company's split with Hover Automotive, it has taken up marketing, sales and distribution on its own shoulders. Presently, Nissan's immediate strategy is to increase brand recall of the Nissan and Datsun brand by introducing marketing campaigns that connect with the Indian audience. Mr. Sicard claims that the recall of their brand is very poor and many people are still unaware of their cars in the country. In one of its recent commercials, Datsun has boldly taken a stab at its core rival - Maruti Suzuki. Datsun's aggressive ad campaign is likely to get noticed as per him. The company is also looking to expand its dealership network as well as improve the overall sales and service experience of its customers.

The company is heavily banking on the Datsun brand to be the one that drives volumes. The Go+, with its 5+2 seating configuration, is likely to be launched next year and Nissan is optimistic that this car will be well accepted by the Indian market. However, they have no plans to introduce an AMT version for either the Go or Go+ in the near future.

The rapidly growing compact SUV segment too is on Nissan's radar who plan to introduce a new SUV positioned below the Terrano to rival Ford's EcoSport. However, the product is still in its planning stage and no concrete details about the same were revealed.