[Nissan1180]

I saw two trailers on the Kalyani-Barrackpore highway near Kolkata yesterday. They had a cargo of three Nissan Urvana NV350s each and were moving towards Kalyani. The minivans were covered in white plastic sheets. The pics I took while driving were blurred, hence I won't post them here.
The vehicle was the size of a Tata Winger, but appeared to be far more contemporary in terms of aesthetics and features. Is this going to be launched in India in the recent future? It would be a great option as a luxurious people mover.
A brief google search revealed that the same vehicle has been spotted testing on Chennai roads as well.
I am posting a picture of the car (taken from the Nissan Thailand website)

[RavenAvi]

Nissan India has announced that it will be ramping up its dealerships number to 300 by March 2017.

Pursuing it's 3-pronged strategy of more products, more customers and more customer touch-points, Nissan India has started work on achieving 230-240 dealerships by March 2016, and concentrating more on SUV-based products for future launches.

The company currently operates from 200 dealerships spread across 124 cities.

"We will have 230 to 240 dealerships by the end of the current fiscal year and 300 by March 2017. We have launched 19 dealerships this year so far, with the latest being in Mumbai the other day," Nissan India managing director Arun Malhotra told PTI.

He said the company's efforts at increasing network quality, or having more customer touch-points has seen the customer satisfaction score jumping to No 3 this year from a distant No 9 two years ago.

Recently, JD Power Asia Pacific ranked Nissan India number 3 in terms sales satisfaction in 2015.

When asked about Nissan's plans to launch premium SUVs and sports cars in the country, Malhotra said a decision on the same will be announced within a month under their strategy of Hello Model strategy next month, which is aimed at enhancing customer delight and bringing excitement to the market.

Earlier this month, Nissan India president Guillaume Sicard had said the company was keen to bring in some of the high-end performance cars and sports utility vehicles from its global portfolio here next year.

"We have a plan to evolve our product line-up. As for 2017, we will have a renewal of all Nissan models. I cannot disclose too much but we are changing the tone of our products, injecting a strong amount of style and also being very SUV oriented. We also want to bring in performance cars and SUVs into this market," Sicard had told PTI.

ET Auto

[hybridpetrol]

As of now, the only SUVish product they have is Terrano, which is also a rebadged product. The only other two vehicles are Micra (hatchback) and Sunny (Sedan). So, what they are going to do, is going to completely change everything about their brand.
Since they have already announced there will not be any rebadged models between Nissan & Renault, going forward (for their own good), it will be interesting to see the completely strong styling in their new SUVs, high performance cars etc.
While it is highly unlikely that they will be able to sell any sporty two-doors such as the one in the above post, the customers will prefer fresh styling.

[TheARUN]

Does Nissan have its own manufacturing facility in India? I don't think so. I think they share the one that Renault has. To me atleast, they come across as a Company playing second fiddle to Renault. Hence, whatever happens, they are only going to be the step-child and continue to stay behind the French lozenge

On the international scene, Nissan is a very well perceived brand. Uttered in the same breath as a Toyota or Honda in certain developed markets. They have so many competent products. The 350Z the Patrol etc. they have products that can give the best in the industry a run for their money

In India I am sure I know what the problem is. They are in a catch-22 situation. They will get interested in our markets only if their cars do well, and their cars inturn will do well only if they start taking the Indian populace seriously

If anyone from Nissan is reading this - Come and get my money, anyways I don't miss you, I am happy letting Suzuki/Hyundai have my money

[jetti]

Originally Posted by TheARUN

Does Nissan have its own manufacturing facility in India? I don't think so. I think they share the one that Renault has.

The plant in Chennai is in Nissan's name although it shares it with Renault. On the other hand, Nissan did not have their own sales and service till 2014. This hurt them badly as service perception has a very big impact on the customers in India.

[S2!!!]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Nissan India has announced that it will be ramping up its dealerships number to 300 by March 2017.

So what are they going to sell with the added number of dealerships? They are selling merely ~1,400 cars each month. Their own brand - Datsun sold more units in August 2015, with just 2 products (Go & Go+) in their line-up. The Micra, Sunny and Terrano are just about surviving in the domestic market.

The next-gen X-Trail is coming soon, but is likely to be a CBU = priced exorbitantly (link to news article). Plus, the likes of the next-gen Endeavour and Fortuner will make matters only worse for this Jap soft-roader. Getting halo products like the Patrol or the GT-R isn't really doing any good for the brand in terms of sales (mainly due to the lack of products available for sale). The company's only saving grace is its new compact SUV likely to debut at the Auto Expo 2016 (link to news article). IMO this SUV is a make or break product for the Nissan brand in India.

[BraveArc]

Saw this Nissan Terrano facelift undergoing testing in Chennai.

[drmohitg]

Nissan cannot really improve there numbers unless they focus on the after sales part. My woes with the Sunny continue. After getting the starter motor and rear shockers replaced under warranty, the car now started presenting with a sound from the Air con ( this was the third time that the airon was giving a problem in my 3 years of ownership). Seoncdly the stock battery died in just over 3.3 years. In comparison my Altis seems to be running fine after 4.1 years. Got the battery replaced anyways.

For the aircon issue, took the car to Nissan and as expected they wanted to open the dashoard and charge me 2500 for the same as labor and only then they will be able to diagose the problem. Feeling out of options, I gave the go ahead and they diagnoses it as some dirt and paper pieces in the blower. For comparison sakes the altis too had a similar issue early in its ownership period and Toyota guys were kind enough to clean the blower in less than 15 minutes, free of cost. the noise at that time was due to a rat nibbling away at the foam. I assume something similar must be the issue with the Sunny too.

It might just be me ranting away but somehow I have lost faith in Nissan and its dealership's competence levels. The car has run 43k kms and last service they replaced the suspension bushes saying they were worn out. Again I am an amateur in this but don't the Altis or innova have these bushes? Both have run many more number of kms without the need for any bush replacement.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Nissan cannot really improve there numbers unless they focus on the after sales part. My woes with the Sunny continue. After getting the starter motor and rear shockers replaced under warranty, the car now started presenting with a sound from the Air con ( this was the third time that the airon was giving a problem in my 3 years of ownership). Seoncdly the stock battery died in just over 3.3 years.

Hey, similar woes for my Micra too!

Air-con was almost bone chilling when I bought the car new, but one day the cooling came down and a tube/piping was found leaking and replaced under warranty. But since they opened the dashboard, it started giving mild squeaks and the also air-con never came back to the original chill. Lately I complained about low cooling at times and the outside air flap actuator was replaced under extended warranty. Still the chill is no where close to original.

Earlier, rear shockers were giving mild squeaking noise and it was diagnosed kaput and replaced under warranty.

And now the battery is whining on startups and I feel it is to give up soon; just 2.5 yrs old. They say the starter motor and alternator is fine, God knows!

Last but not the least, I am enjoying once a year service for just Rs. 10k for my Vento in comparison to ~ Rs. 6k a service for the Micra every 6 months.

Moreover, the NVH is really deadening day by day, it kills creature comfort way too much. Over potholes, the build quality feels like everything is glued together, like a collection of flexible pieces of metal and other things; though in the same breath I should say there are no major rattles. If it is not for the tractable motor and FE, I would have thrown her away without another thought. We bought this as a beater, but I fear if it will hold together all the way to age maturely.

P.S from the bottom of my heart; sadly:
Apart from the below par service center experiences everywhere (not exactly in my case where I am given ample support from my ASC), I am now wondering (from personal experience) if their machines are as reliable as visualized? To be frank, though I give a lot of respect to the brand, I am thinking otherwise now if they really deserve it.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by thoma

Earlier, rear shockers were giving mild squeaking noise and it was diagnosed kaput and replaced under warranty.

And now the battery is whining on startups and I feel it is to give up soon; just 2.5 yrs old. They say the starter motor and alternator is fine. If it is not for the tractable motor and FE, I would have thrown her away without another thought.

So isn't that alarming that the shocker should need replacement so soon? Also the battery in my case too just lasted a little over 3 years even though the car has seen regular running.

The engine noise is irritating but to be fair was present in the beginning too. The FE is nothing great going by today's industry standards. My car returns 16 kmpl on an average. No comparison but the Altis is giving me 18+ kmpl and even the 320D gives me 13.5 kmpl.

There are definitely no major rattles in my car too. On the service front, I have ranted many a times before. A 6 monthly full service interval is just not acceptable in today's time.

All in all, there is nothing Japanese about this car. That's the irritating factor since the company's lineage was what made us choose this over others.

The only good part about it is the rear space and the driveability of the engine in city traffic. That is something that still makes me smile everytime I drive it.

[volkman10]

Nissan X-Trail launch at Auto Expo 2016 - will be sold as an import. Will sell in low numbers but want to be present in the SUV market!

Nissan will bring the new X-Trail as an import and local assembly has been ruled out in the short term. This means, the new SUV is expected to be quite expensive and according to sources, the company is planning to price it in the region of Rs 32-35 lakh. This makes the X-Trail costlier than its immediate rivals, the Hyundai Santa Fe and Honda CR-V, which could make it difficult for Nissan to sell the X-Trail in large numbers.

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...16-398765.aspx

[ampere]

Some how never understood the Renault-Nissan strategy. They want to increase dealerships in all tier-II cities, but only plan to bring in the luxury segment as import to India.

May be they will bring in the lower segment once the back-end is in place. But I still believe they are leaving a big market out of their hands. Something like the like the Qashqai selling in the 18-25L range willl be a very good buy for many. Given the fact that X-over segment is hot, makes it that much more value add to the bottom line. Maybe Renault can then mull over the Kadjar as well in such a case. But anyway they have focused more on the value segment with Kwid. Makes it that much more logical for Nissan to look at the other end of the spectrum. But just imports wont help in my opinion.

[S2!!!]

Datsun and Nissan are targeting a combined market share of 5% in India by 2020. As of January 2016, their combined market share stands between 1-1.5%.

A 5% market share might seem like an ambitious target, especially after considering the duo's low brand recall and weak dealership network in the country. However, the head honchos at Nissan-Datsun have identified these shortcomings and are confident that by fine-tuning its communication strategy, improving distribution in non-metros and offering captive finance solutions, the brand is likely to achieve its target, with Datsun contributing to half this volume.

Datsun plans to introduce the Redi-Go hatchback and the Go Cross compact crossover, which was showcased at the 2016 Auto Expo.

Renault too had set a target of 5% market share in India by 2017 and going by the Kwid's blockbuster performance, it seems that target is likely to be achieved. Nissan and Datsun are hopeful that their cars drive in the volumes as well, and help them achieve their ambitious target market share by 2020.

Source: ET Auto

[SS8939]

It just pains me to see Nissan not doing well in India. IMO, these guys have a history as rich as that of the German trio. They made the Skyline and 240sx for crying out loud! And even today they have the GTR, 370Z etc.

Cars like the Altima, Qashkai really have a chance of doing well here. And yes, Nissan does have to work on a better dealership experience, after sales and ownership costs.

[daywiz]

If they are focusing on the Datsun brand, then they got to stop using Nissan branding on some cars and bring it all under one brand.

Their reluctance to step up on innovation or introduce any form of category first features or let alone automatics on the Datsun range, I feel is a disappointment to start with.

To top that, their focus on increasing dealership networks as been patchy. A 5% is very much possible but for starters, they need to get their brand focus straight and get in as many dealerships to their network ASAP.