[Superleggera]

Excellent post GTO, great thoughts.

my 2 cents

1. Nissan is a manufacturer who tries unconventional designs and that is part of their strategy. The Nissan Juke Pictured Below is a classic example. They have great looking (some of the best in fact) cars too in their portfolio, but their small cars are all rather uninspiring in looks dept.

2. Unlike other Jap manufactures like Toyota and Honda, Nissan seems to have an inheritant problem with their dealers. In USA which is one of their biggest market, Number of customer complaints for the dealers for Nissan is more than any other Japanese brand.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by Superleggera

Nissan is a manufacturer who tries unconventional designs and that is part of their strategy...but their small cars are all rather uninspiring in looks dept

I do not agree with some views in this thread that bash Nissan on the basis of looks. If looks were more important in success, many a Toyota, Honda or Suzuki would have never set the charts on fire. And moreover, looks are so subjective, inclusive of my examples above.

Looks are not the primary or secondary issue with Nissan, aravindwarrier has so rightly put the issue in his previous post, as below.

NMIPL is just into manufacturing. Rest of their India business is in the hands of an entity called Hover Automotive India !!

We all know that functions like sales and marketing, dealer development, customer relationship management and after sales service are so critical that they can make or break the fortune of an auto company, irrespective of how good a product they churn out from the plant.

In automobile business, dealers are normally controlled by the manufacturer directly. Introducing a third party, a countrywide distributor is a rare strategy, that might payoff, but is still a hell of a lot risk that Nissan is taking by putting their faith in a third party to manage their entire India business. It also makes one to think twice about the commitment the company would have to the Indian Customers/Dealers.

I got my 6 month new Micra back from the ASC, after fixing an A/C cooling issue, only after sitting there for 7 days! Just to replace a leaking pipe. The issue there is lack of quality workmen and availability of ready parts. Luckily, the parts needed for me was available, yet workmen were not. It was just one main mechanic who shuffled across major jobs. I have to guess here that Hover is having a nice time doing nothing much, sitting on the payrolls of Nissan. I am still sure that all these booking issues (with Nissan dealer, on our forum) are just because the dealer do not get the right information across from Hover. During my booking process delay, the friendly sales executive had to admit that in spite of sending my requests for a particular color and variant multiple times, they were keeping on sending the one they wanted to reduce stock off! I do not want to disbelieve him, as his top boss who is into new business development, as mentioned by me earlier, has admitted that they are very much looking forward for a time to deal with Nissan directly.

Nissan, take up responsibility and show more passion for your job in our country; how can you outsource these?

[Sheel]

There is a new dealer for Nissan in Patna. Urja Automobiles. Called them up for expected prices of the Terrano. They are expecting it to go over 14 for top end variant.

I really do not like the XUV's appearance and am sure a Nissan will prove more reliable in the long run, but it is hard to ignore a bungalow at that price instead of the Duplex Nissan seems to be offering.

I would request Nissan to be realistic with pricing their Car. I think the Yeti comes across a VFM when compared to the price of either a Terrano or a Duster.

[Vishal.R]

Originally Posted by GTO

However, Carlos Ghosn isn't active in India. The market is too small for his time. Period.

IMHO this is also one important factor.
If we look at Indian auto industry, more successful companies are the ones which top management is directly involved in decision making for Indian market.
See the difference between Maruti/Hyundai/Honda etc. and Fiat/Nissan/GM/VW etc.

[Raosaheb Desai]

Originally Posted by thoma

I do not agree with some views in this thread that bash Nissan on the basis of looks. If looks were more important in success, many a Toyota, Honda or Suzuki would have never set the charts on fire. And moreover, looks are so subjective, inclusive of my examples above.


Nissan, take up responsibility and show more passion for your job in our country; how can you outsource these?

Nissan has right products but not so right strategy for Indian market. Outsourcing sales and service shows their lethargic attitude. Their dependency on HAI will not take them anywhere. They will ruin the brand the way Mitsubishi did in hands of HM.
Regarding looks, I feel its personal choice. For me most of Hyundai designs are overdone, still they sell well in India.

[kaizanfan]

A friend of mine who had booked the Nissan Sunny backed out saying he got insider information from one of his friends that the company is not doing well and they may not be able to provide spare parts and service. It seems Nissan is making a loss of few crores every month thanks to Hover. And they are stuck for now.

Another friend reported that escalating sales and service issues to Hover doesn't help. They simply go mum.

[Burn_out]

IMHO, Nissan has some unique products. Sunny is a 2BHK flat when you compare it to its rivals, Evalia is the new London black cab which itself proves the car competence. Micra appeals to my dad as it looks like car from his time.
To me the issue with Nissan's strategy is that it needs to step out of the Renault shadow and stop selling half packaged cars. I agree with GTO on the points that Nissan needs to work very hard on its marketing strategy and dealer/service network. I have a lot of friends who would not mind buying a Nissan car but would be worried to burn petrol worth a INR 1000 just to get to the free service. These things do play in the minds of the first time buyers.

[kaizanfan]

Originally Posted by Burn_out

I have a lot of friends who would not mind buying a Nissan car but would be worried to burn petrol worth a INR 1000 just to get to the free service. These things do play in the minds of the first time buyers.

And you're not sure of getting good service, spare parts, etc., after spending INR 1000 to get to the nearest Nissan service center. My friend's diesel micra (old model) needs a new part and the service center is not able to get it, it's been 2 weeks.

[CARDEEP]

IMO, Nissan lost one half of the game with its dealers & Hover, & other half with its products. With the first half being discussed in detail, I just want to add that not just the car buyers, but the dealers too have lost enthusiasm, all because of Hover. As someone has pointed out, the dealership at Mathura Road, Delhi the dealer (now Delight Honda) changed loyalty around 3-4 months back. As as a friend who is an auto analyst at Hyundai, the competitors are pretty much confident, till Hover is there there are bound to be gaps in Sales & Service levels as compared to the likes of Maruti-Suzuki, Hyundai & even Tata, as their penetration is deeper & dealer can deal directly with the company & not an intermediary.

Coming to the product mix, there isn't much to allure the buyers, when you have lost half the battle with Sales & Service. Their products could have succeeded if these had been the best (like Honda & Toyota), but, all their products have been as good as the competition.

In case of Micra/ Sunny, the petrols are average & diesel is bit better, but, feminine looks, poor braking issue (addressed later), high price (only a bit lower Hyundai cars, despite having lesser power & features) & people having more faith in MJD (since it sells more... a safer option of things go wrong), have costed it on sales front.

The MUV - Evalia, is a unique proposition in itself. It's got butterfly windows for the second row (instead of third row), whereas the third row occupants get fixed glass windows. The buyers, including commercial fleet owners, could have barely managed to get over the shock of passengers being suffocated in the rear seats, but as soon as they moved to the front row there was no lid on glove-box (no privacy for personal belongings). Add to this the tyres are too thin & light-truck type, with the company-dealership being least helpful when trying to upgrade with fatter rubber & aftermarket alloys, unlike the market leader (s).

Their other products are simply too costly, & not selling much, & easily fade as compared to competition (imagine Teana-V6 being beaten in terms of performance by the likes of V4 Accord & even Camry) for buyers to put hands on.

I feel they are in deep rut, unless they learn to win over customers' mindset in India, which I do not feel they are working on at the moment. I only hope they price the Terrano sensibly, & not a premium over the Duster, lest they won't find half the buyers as the Duster.

[vvrchandra]

I'm actively considering Micra CVT for my father as posted in the below thread.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatchb...ml#post3231749
But, after going through this thread, I'm worried and rethinking whether to go for micra cvt.

I feel it is better to opt for either Honda or Hyundai whose service standards are known to me.

[Simple_car]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

But, after going through this thread, I'm worried and rethinking whether to go for micra cvt.

I feel it is better to opt for either Honda or Hyundai whose service standards are known to me.

I read the thread you posted. I think if you liked the car (especially your parents), then you should go ahead and book it. Your point of concern is on the dealership after-sales right?
I currently maintain a nissan in bombay, so if you don't mind, just go through this entire thread: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ns-mumbai.html

Go through it entirely and see my thoughts on this matter. Now, I will tell you a few things which you need to consider before buying a nissan in current scenario:
1. If your city has only one dealership right now, just visit the service centre on a weekend and see how the load is, and how it is handled. Have a chat with the owners there. This will give you a fair idea of what are the problems peculiar to your city.
2. For routine services, you will not face much problems if you go on a weekday when the load is light. Most service centres are good enough to carry out simple routine maintainence jobs.
3. The one area where you will be taking a risk is accidental repairs. I had a chat with an acquaintance who had given his sunny for accident repair to ichibaan nissan in bombay. The job was a minor one (just replace and repaint the hood) which should have at max taken a week. It took a month. Simply because, the dealer did not punch his order. That's it. As soon as the order was punched in front of him, parts arrived in 4 days, painting and drying took about 2 days and car was with him in a week. So, the factory itself is sending the parts very fast. It is the dealer (in this case the infamous ichibaan) who creates a problem.
4. Have a go through the threads on different forums for any experiences of the hyderabad dealer. If the dealer is reasonably good and your pre-sales experience has been decent, you should definitely consider about this car.
5. Nissan has a tie up with MyTVS for road side assistance throughout India. I have used their service once, but I was in the city limits itself, so I was attended to properly.

At the end of the day, if you are still apprehensive the option of honda is always there (since you are happy with the after sales).

The micra is a decent and reliable product. I have only sat in the diesel variant of a friend. I have not driven the micra cvt, however, if the cvt's in U.S. cars are anything to go by, you won't be disappointed from the reliability aspect at least.

I have recently bought a car knowing that the A.S.S. in my area of this brand is bad, since I am confident that I can resolve the problems which may arise. At least to me the A.S.S. is not a deal-breaker. But, that's just me.

Thanks,
Simple_car

[ajmat]

Interesting article on Nissan's poor performance in today's Business Standard

http://www.business-standard.com/art...1500538_1.html

[thoma]

Strange that I see scarce numbers of the new Micra on the road, whereas the new Grand i10 are aplenty, though launched much later.

Quoting a piece of the news, for documenting on our forum:

The company exports four cars out of every five produced in India.

So the question is, are they really satisfied with exporting than selling locally?

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by thoma

Strange that I see scarce numbers of the new Micra on the road, whereas the new Grand i10 are aplenty, though launched much later.

Quoting a piece of the news, for documenting on our forum:


So the question is, are they really satisfied with exporting than selling locally?

Even exports are drying up, the Micra is a pretty humdrum car and not that attractive compared to competitors

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Interesting article on Nissan's poor performance in today's Business Standard

http://www.business-standard.com/art...1500538_1.html

Thanks for sharing, but there seems to be something wrong with the matter posted. It says that the Terrano is selling 3000 units per month, but it was just launched this month!!