[W.A.G.7]

A very nice article. I can relate to all of the points mentioned in the article. Thankfully I am satisfied with the overall experience until now; though as I understand, for many others the sales/service experience was pathetic. I have forwarded the article link to Nissan customer care. Let's see if I get any response from them.

[rajeev k]

Nice one more GTO, like all your feature rich posts.
What Nissan got to do is to make its vehicles more attractive to customers. Nissan and Datsun were brand names we Indians knew much before the automobile revolution kick started by Suzuki through Maruti happened in India. Post that, the Nissan brand has not gone forward. .Why? Look at the product Evalia. Too boxy and ordinary fare with sliding glasses. Also look at the Chevrolet Enjoy and its performance. It has vertical moving glasses for middle row, India's favorite row. And then look at the sales volume; it is telling it like it is.
Need I say more?

[powertrain]

Excellent thread GTO
Nissan, for your own good, I hope you're seeing this thread.
One thing I would suggest Nissan to invest more on is, Intelligent Advertising
When the Micra & Sunny were launched, I quite liked the ad's that were broadcasted. It talked about the strengths & features that differentiated itself from the others.
But on the other hand, they completely lost it with the Evalia & new Micra ad's.
I am no advertising guru, but I just can't make sense of the new Micra ad where they are speeding in narrow by lanes. Or the "Moves like Music" ad of Evalia.

The Evalia & New Micra Ad, for reference sake:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cPYp5tDwq4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHN_kDyURTM

In my opinion, they need to fire their ad agency.

Speaking of ad's, I love what VW Jetta "BirdMan" ad as well as the buzzing newspaper print ad.

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

4) Revamp Ecosport interiors and offer AWD Variant.

Hello 4*4,
I presume you meant the Terrano, right?

Regards,
Varun

[PrideRed]

Nissan has completely lost out be it on their stategy,management or marketing.
I dont think getting a blockbuster product would revive Nissan, they just have to get their basics right. Infact they already have a blockbuster,the Sunny. Given the VFM, Sunny should have raked in decent numbers for Nissan.
Also the way Nissan positioned the cars is totally confusing. The X-Trail/Teana are being sold at a price point higher than competition and give Nissan a premium brand image.
Nissan Sunny is absolutely VFM gives one impression that Nissan is a cheap brand. Again Micra is positioned as a Premium hatch. Customerr basically does not know if Nisssan is a premium brand or not.

Other major drawback is their service. A Sunny car of a relative had to wait in garage for 2 months just because part weren't available. Forget they didnt even have their own paint booth.

Also Nissan and Renault should revise the strategy, they should promote one as a premium brand and price all the products higher than the other brand, just like VW/Skoda.

[abhinavrm]

Let me narrate my experience with Nissan.

I was in the market for an MPV a month ago. I started my RnD and took a TD of the following:
Tata Safari, Maruti Ertiga, Mahindra Scorpio, Mahindra xylo, Mahindra xuv 500, Toyota innova. In all of the cases above, atleast one of the following techniques worked to get a testdrive:

a) Walk-in showroom and take a TD
b) Call dealer and book TD
c) Manufacturer/Dealer website's "Book TD" option.

All of the above were eager to give me a TD. Nissan is a different case altogether.

Strike 1: Nissan India Website - "Book TD"
After booking a TD via Nissan's website, no response whatsoever! Not once but I tried this twice.

Strike 2: Call dealer
This didn't work either. The representative said he will get back in sometime and never did!

Strike 3: Showroom walk-in
I walked into Nissan showroom and asked for a TD of the Evalia. I wanted to check out Ertiga, Evalia and Enjoy for a 7 seater comparison. The sales rep cut a sorry face and said that they don't have a TD vehicle. Errrm, WHAT? No TD vehicle? And they expect to sell cars? Ha! However , he assured me that he will come to my doorstep the following saturday and give me a TD.

Strike 4: Doorstep TD?
I eagerly waited for Saturday and the TD never happened! Neither did the sales rep call or show up.

With sales rep's/showroom's attitude to customers like this, I'm not surprised Nissan is not doing well. Needless to say, I bought another vehicle and Nissan now ranks very low in my opinion.

[CoolFire]

Nissan, you may spend your entire sales turnover here on consultants and wouldn't get insights even half good as you see in this thread. GTO, Team BHP, take pride.

Yet, I feel sad in a way as it seems very unlikely that they heed to all this and may just go down as another MNC auto company who couldn't make it big in this complex country.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by GTO

It's a 5 point plan really:

1. Simplify: Spreading yourselves thin across 3 brands is really going nowhere. Instead of a fire away machine gun approach, the need of the hour is sniper-like precision shots. Since Datsun is already here, it's too late to talk about dumping it. Here's what I suggest: Two years from now, whichever is the stronger brand between Nissan & Datsun stays (discard the other). My bet is, Nissan will always enjoy higher brand equity & awareness than Datsun.
2. Market: Successfully marketing cars is no longer rocket science. Differentiate & sell the hell out to your target audience. Don't try being everything to everyone just yet.
3. Dealers: Short-term pain, long-term gain. Recruit, develop, train & manage your brand's dealerships yourself. There is no other way to a successful relationship with your customer.
4. Stop selling the same, identical car at different prices under different brands: Thankfully, Nissan has realised its folly here. They've publicly stated that the Terrano is the last cross-badged product.
5. The Domestic & Export divisions have to function as individual business units (management, accountability, targets, strategy etc.). As good as the exports are, the domestic business is under-performing. When export + domestic numbers are clubbed together, it'll make for a good report. On the other hand, the standalone local numbers tell a different story.

The only part you miss (and its critical) is the pricing.

I was really interested in the Evalia when it came out - but it didn't even make my shortlist (another matter that fate postponed new car purchase!) simply because the price was way too high (Almost 9.8 onroad GGN - higher down south).

No wonder the Enjoy enjoys the success it did, with limited visibility / brand building etc etc - because its priced right and is an overall compelling value proposition.

[durgaprasan]

A nice, comprehensive article, thought provoking. Nissan has always been known for no nonsense type of cars, though only a few actually manage to excite. Looks wise, most of their cars dubiously get listed in worst designs category ( see TopGear, worst car designs). However, I do agree with their Datsun strategy. I think it will be positioned as a car for budget conscious providing value for money and ease of ownership, and I suspect it will be attractive to our senior generation, many of whom are already familiar with the brand name (Some of them still do cherish that name from their overseas experience, especially Gulf countries).

Certainly badge engineering does not make sense, though platform and engine sharing does. I completely agree that Renault must try to remain as French as possible, rather than try to bring rebadged Dacias or Samsungs as premium offerings. Maybe Dacias can be rebadged as Datsun in Indian market!

[MaxTorque]

Excellent article GTO. Nissan must introspect and come out with an action plan to get on right track. Somehow Nissan's model of outsourced dealerships is not working well in India.

This is a problem with MNC auto majors. They always find it difficult to formulate right business model for each countries. Look at the story of Mitsubishi, they have many capable products but failed to create a successful entity in India.

In my opinion they should learn marketing tricks other manufactures.
VW - Marketing and brand building
Maruti Suzuki - Dealership model
Honda/Toyota - Customer care

[S.MJet]

Customer perception about a particular brand, its association etc can be very difficult to change.
E.g. Tata cannot be de-associated from VFM/Taxi/cheap (no offence to owners) brand image whatever they do (Manza, Vista, Aria were attempts to shed that image but failed).

In this perspective, Nissan should launch Datsun as a completely separate brand including separate showrooms.

Establishing a new brand in a new market has been done in the past & can be done here as well, of course Datsun will need more than one breakthrough products which ticks all boxes in the mass market.

Nissan should operate as a completely separate brand something similar to Audi & Volkswagen

If they are sharing the showrooms, I am afraid it will be sure-shot recipe for failure. We already have a live example in Tata-Fiat.

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by durgaprasan

Certainly badge engineering does not make sense, though platform and engine sharing does. I completely agree that Renault must try to remain as French as possible, rather than try to bring rebadged Dacias or Samsungs as premium offerings. Maybe Dacias can be rebadged as Datsun in Indian market!

Badge engineering is great for firms that are able to establish themselves as a prominent automotive brand but have no real R&D of their own. Holden seems to do a pretty good job of selling re-badged cars in Australia.

BTW, before their collaboration with Renault, I had no idea Samsung even made cars. Sure, phones, televisions, laptops, cameras, refrigerators, webcam and MP3 players (a decade ago), and even doll accessories (Barbie-branded laptops), but I didn't think they made cars.

[MaxTorque]

Originally Posted by k_nitin_r

Holden seems to do a pretty good job of selling re-badged cars in Australia.

BTW, before their collaboration with Renault, I had no idea Samsung even made cars.

Good examples of badge engineering. But there is a difference. In both the cases, the companies are home grown. Holden sells re-badged cars in Australia and Samsung in Korea.

[Coupé]

Excellent post GTO.

I have been on the lookout for a new car, but Nissan has never really been anywhere near the top of my mind - because no one has recommended this brand to me yet. Now I know why.

I might add, that it's not just multiple brands that are confusing customers, some of it also has to do with multiple cars. Top brands like Maruti and Hyundai have built up their market, selling one car at a time.

Thanks again.

[vroom666]

I think it will be very difficult for any car maker in India to take away the advantage that Maruti & Hyundai have had in the small car space. Mainly because of the early entrant & localization benefits. Just don't see it happening with others now. People just don't look away from these 2 for their small car needs. The few who do are miniscule in comparison.

But as others have already said, all it will take Nissan or for that matter any other manufacturer to gain a proper foothold is one blockbuster car. But I don't see that happening in the small/entry hatchback area unless the vehicle is priced low and has class leading features and by that I mean really rich in features. Else by now the Nano would have set sales charts on fire.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by GTO

[center][i][i]
It's a 5 point plan really:

1. Simplify: Spreading yourselves thin across 3 brands is really going nowhere. Instead of a fire away machine gun approach, the need of the hour is sniper-like precision shots. Since Datsun is already here, it's too late to talk about dumping it.
   
2. Market: Successfully marketing cars is no longer rocket science. Differentiate & sell the hell out to your target audience. Don't try being everything to everyone just yet.
   
   
3. Dealers: Short-term pain, long-term gain. Recruit, develop, train & manage your brand's dealerships yourself. There is no other way to a successful relationship with your customer.
   
   
4. Stop selling the same, identical car at different prices under different brands: Thankfully, Nissan has realised its folly here. They've publicly stated that the Terrano is the last cross-badged product.
   
   
5. The Domestic & Export divisions have to function as individual business units (management, accountability, targets, strategy etc.). As good as the exports are, the domestic business is under-performing. When export + domestic numbers are clubbed together, it'll make for a good report. On the other hand, the standalone local numbers tell a different story.

Additional Notes:

• Renault-Nissan's production capacity is 400,000 cars per annum. It is shared in a 30:70 ratio between the two brands.

• A lot of the points listed here are applicable to Renault as well.

• Link to a similar analysis on Honda India from 2011.

Having interacted with the Renault Nisan managers over here

Some observations

Why Datsun? This is spurred on by the success of the the Dacia budget brand. From what I observed, Nissan will move a little up-market in the B+, C, D segments. Datsun will compete in the B and may be the small MPV segment. If you look at the better Nissan models, you do not get them here (Note, Altima, Qashquai)

Hover - Nissan has a problem with Hover, they were not upfront but it was clear. It is possible that Datsun might be a route to supply cars direct to the dealers (am not sure on this but I got the sense that this might be an option). The exact Datsun marketing channel is yet to be defined but it does involve existing dealers.

Renault - Nissan Cross Badging - frankly Renault managers are in cloud cuckoo land to the extent of saying that Indians are experiencing the best Renault experience. I dared them to actually sell the Pulse and Scala in Europe and they shivered. The Terrano is a better attempt to distinguish between the two. The management stated that dipping in the parts bin/ platforms is free for all as long as customer is not confused. However, the customer is getting confused!

Manufacturing in India - The factory is fairly labour intensive. It is efficient but not as sophisticated. The next Micra will be built in France so expect the successor in India to be a chromed Nissan Go. Nissan- Renault are open about the labour intensiveness and the current rupee value makes things even better.

CMF-A Platform - This is an all new platform which aims to be more sophisticated that what Maruti and Hyundai offer but yet better value.

Qashquai - If they can get their sums right on this, this will be an XUV500 killer. Engine is 90% locally made