[GTO]

Related Thread - Nissan India, The Way Forward (a must-read)

If there is one car brand in India that stands for nothing, has nothing and is nothing, it is Nissan. No brand value, no good dealers, no desirable cars, no loyal customers. No offence to owners of the brand - I own a Nissan (Sunny) myself. I love the car, but the company's support has been so terrible that I'll NEVER recommend a Nissan to anyone else.

Let's take a look at the sales of the last year. Fact is, you can't run a car company selling a dismal 200 - 500 cars each month (unless they are luxury cars). It won't pay your bills or salaries. Heck, I know some car dealer groups in India that move more cars than this manufacturer! The Kicks was a make-it-or-break-it model for Nissan...as we know, that flopped too:


Am also sharing a SWOT analysis below. No matter how hard I thought, I simply couldn't come up with more than 4 strengths. And even of that, the most major one is a recent development (thread on Srivastava joining Nissan). In fact, that's the only good news Nissan has had in 5 years! So big, this is what happened when his appointment was announced:

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks to a Team-BHP Fan (who prefers to stay anonymous) for sending this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP page!

He is a car dealer:

Make no mistake, Rakesh Srivastava is an absolute genius, but he has joined a severely damaged, sinking ship. It's like a great captain coming onboard the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.

To be sure, there is no problem in the auto industry that a good car can't solve. If Nissan were to introduce a breakthrough & well-priced crossover / SUV, that could turn the fortunes of the company around. But I have a feeling that Nissan's Japanese parent - going through troubles of its own - is fed up of Nissan India (CEO resigned yesterday). And all the SUV slots in our market have been filled too. The Duster, EcoSport & Creta had the first-mover advantage. Today, their segments are crowded.

I think Nissan's best shot is bringing "electric cars" to India as the company (globally) is among the leaders of EVs. Although, it's a long time before electric cars garner volumes in India. Kotak thinks they'll at best have 5% of the market by 2030 (related thread). How about hybrids? I think they make immense sense for India. Will Nissan innovate?

There is really no competitive advantage that Nissan has and that its bigger rivals lack. Anything Nissan can do, Maruti / Hyundai / others can do better. I've hardly ever seen a car company that turned things around in India after a decade-long drought; it's possible, but it requires a huge commitment from global bosses. Tata Motors is one of the names that comes to mind (Tiago, Nexon etc. are selling well), but even they have lots of challenges (Harrier has tanked). Skoda was here once in terms of reputation, although we can argue that it has kickass products & brand prestige. I don't foresee anyone buying a 40-lakh Nissan as ~100 customers a month are taking the sexy Kodiaq home.

If Nissan were to ask me what it should do, my very candid answer = Stop throwing good money after bad. Pack your bags & kill the "NISSAN" brand in India. Put all your group resources in Renault. God knows, it's a tough race out there due to the market conditions and you'd rather have 1 strong brand than 3 weak ones.

General Motors & Volkswagen have written off their India ambitions & I think Nissan is next. Here's my SWOT analysis on the company that has continually created troubles for itself. Even its start in India had a shortcut approach - Nissan conveniently outsourced the entire dealer development to notorious Hover (related thread):

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Indian Car Scene!

[wheelguy]

Rakesh Srivastava can surely turn the things for Nissan India only if he is given the free hand, but the Nissan's headquarters itself is in a lots of chaos and mess after the Ghosn issue to support its subsidiary in India.

It will be an uphill task even if the HQ supported the Indian arm with its decision, because of the bad image they acquired among the dealers they will find it hard to onboard new dealers without whom they cannot progress.

And yes a badass well priced irresistible SUV launch can help them sustain temporarily, meanwhile they have to sort the things out. They should play on their strengths like EV experiance etc,they should also concentrate on exports and commercial segments for sustainability. They can modify their present portfolio to suit the needs of the commercial buyers which will help them for sure.

They already have Nissan Kicks at hand which is needed to be capitalized to its full potential, hope Rakesh Srivastava will look into this.

Let's see how Rakesh Srivastava will help Nissan India to come out of the mess. All the best Nissan India, stay in India and fight back.

[YashD]

Mr. Rakesh cannot do anything to turn the market around with the current portfolio of Nissan India. They're still milking the Micra & Sunny even after a decade! One might say even VW is doing the same but atleast the Germans have a timeless design. Also, they kept on updating the vehicles time and again keeping it relevant in the market and among it's competitors. The same cannot be said for Nissan.

The manufacturer seems absolutely disinterested! They did not launch is single new product for so many years and when they finally did, Kicks was over-priced. Nissan did not even cater to the right segments or I ought say stayed consistent. As a brand, they seemed clueless, they really did not know how to operate in the Indian car market or its too big of a statement (Allegation) but maybe corruption running at the back end of the company?

Another major reason I feel is Nissan couldn't understand the Indian consumer choices. All there vehicles have lacked something or the other decreasing the desirability for the brand low. When Nissan entered the market, consumers did accept their products and a lot of Indian put in their hard earned money on it's vehicles simply because of the brand name but Nissan did not anything jaw dropping to keep up the momentum along with the shoddy after sales offered by dealerships was a final nail to the coffin.

If the company indeed wants a future in India, they've to overhaul the entire portfolio along with improving the after sales. First off, bring in the new Micra and Sunny discontinuing the Terrano which hasn't even received a proper facelift. They need to bring in their global lineup cars including Juke, Qashai, the new X-trail along with some different interesting vehicles likes Note, Tiida, Lannia or Altima, all these cars have a different design language which might intrigue an Indian car buyer who really wish to have the exclusivity (Success story the Elite is one such example).

Also, rather than using the age old 1.5 DCi, they need to update their engine line up. It's absolutely cringe worthy seeing them using the same motor in the entire portfolio. Like come on Nissan! That's the least we can expect from you being the maker of legendary products. To. Sum it up, the only thing that can save Nissan is not a new MD but a new Product Portfolio with an excellent after sales service. If you can offer that, people wouldn't mind spending that extra moolah as well. If Indians can accept Kia & MG, Nissan can create it's position again in the hearts of Indian car buyer if they get the basics right.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Rakesh Srivastava can surely turn the things for Nissan India only if he is given the free hand.

Even with a free hand - nobody can sell a Micra, Kicks right now. The products simply don't appeal to the customers against the competition offerings. And thats not going to change at all. This quote from GTO in the opening post actually sums it up precisely --

Originally Posted by GTO

Make no mistake, Rakesh Srivastava is an absolute genius, but he has joined a severely damaged, sinking ship. It's like a great captain coming onboard the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.

Bringing Rakesh Srivastava onboard to "save" Nissan India is only as useful as throwing both ends of a rope to a drowning man. Thats about it. It will give hope before the inevitable painful end.
I have voted YES. If the question was "SHOULD" instead of "WILL", I'd have voted a resounding YES 100000 times. They should help themselves out of this misery and embarrassment as soon as possible.

[rajvardhanraje]

In my opinion Nissan will need to exit India eventually no matter what they do now. The brand has taken a beating which is beyond repair. Their current line up is woefully outdated and the lack of factors such as resale value, after sales support only add further to their downfall.

Bringing in a potent leader at this point is not going to turn fortunes for them. They must be running huge losses in the Indian market and I expected them to exit much earlier. At this point continuing India operations for them is just flogging a dead horse.

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Bringing Rakesh Srivastava onboard to "save" Nissan India is only as useful as throwing both ends of a rope to a drowning man. Thats about it. It will give hope before the inevitable painful end.

Yes it is too late to help, it's just out of my wishful thinking that I said what I said. Even I voted YES in the poll.

[laser2707]

How do you resurrect a brand which has committed all the cardinal sins of Bad Business? Shoddy products, poor after-sales, taking customers for granted, overpriced products, rehashing old models with special editions... the list is endless & reflect in GTO's exhaustive list of weaknesses.

Will it be a Phoenix and rise from the ashes? I think Indian consumers are not so forgiving anymore. Will a Moses (Mr. Srivastava) lead them to the promised land? Unlikely, as even he with his skill sets, requires some weaponry & ammunition. Sadly both are lacking.

Will an EV/Hybrid revive its fortunes? I think the advent of EV's will change the paradigm of car brands. Allow me to elaborate...

With the likes of Micromax, Xiaomi getting into EV's, Brand value, that intangible which made customers pay extra or take the leap of faith will become non-existent.

Nissan's brand equity is negligible. No matter which high tech EV they launch, their Brand will come in the way rather than help in Sales.

A rather dismal scenario. With a leadership crisis at their HQ, there's little scope for optimism.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Rakesh Srivastava can surely turn the things for Nissan India only if he is given the free hand, but the Nissan's headquarters itself is in a lots of chaos and mess after the Ghosn issue to support its subsidiary in India.

Originally Posted by GTO

[center]
Make no mistake, Rakesh Srivastava is an absolute genius, but he has joined a severely damaged, sinking ship. It's like a great captain coming onboard the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.

Originally Posted by YashD

Mr. Rakesh cannot do anything to turn the market around with the current portfolio of Nissan India. They're still milking the Micra & Sunny even after a decade!

Mr. Rakesh can't save the company right now. My reasons - the person can restore faith among few dealers but no customer is going to care who the MD of a company is while purchasing his/her next car.

Nissan has been out of 'radar' in Indian market. There's no good word of mouth publicity among people and Nissan cars are a unicorn on Indian roads. That means "out of sight, out of mind". Today, someone has to think real hard to come up with Nissan as a potential OEM whose car is available in the market. And that perception is extremely hard to change.

They will go the Fiat way. I perceive Renault would go the same way. Just that Fiat cars and Renault Duster have some fan following which are giving them few numbers every month. Nissan has perished before having any fans.

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Even with a free hand - nobody can sell a Micra, Kicks right now. The products simply don't appeal to the customers against the competition offerings. And thats not going to change at all. This quote from GTO in the opening post actually sums it up precisely --

+1. These cars don't come up easily in ones' mind while thinking of Indian cars on road. Hence, chances of people shortlisting a Nissan car for their upcoming purchase is remote.

The few numbers we see every month seems to be discount driven.

[locusjag]

I haven't voted here at all.

If Nissan were to launch the Leaf in India, they'll find that they can turn over a new leaf. I've seen it in action in the US and it is so practical for daily use.

And I owned a Nissan SUV in the US for 4 years with no troubles. What's more, some of their products there (other than the Leaf) are cutting edge examples - the 2018 Rogue model came with a level of autonomous driving capability for instance.

Anyways, even if we're talking about buying a Leaf here in India, their after sales support network's reputation in India would hold me back from considering it. They need good products such as the Leaf and a huge distribution and service network revamp. That's how they can claw back from the labyrinth they're sliding into in this country.

[aniyo]

I wonder how do few companies specialize in appointing horrible dealers. Skoda, VW, Nissan, Renault and few generally get good ones, like Suzuki, Hyundai and Honda.

I wonder if this is a chicken and egg story. Dealers don't make money and then resort to cheating or they have bad dealers and hence people move away and then the brand suffers

[octane_100]

The alliance is now Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi. IMHO, we should have Mitsubishi replace Nissan in India. Renault can continue to concentrate on sub 15 lakh segments and Mitsubishi products should be launched to garner the volumes in the C+ and above segments. Mitsubishi enjoys good brand recall and people still have fond memories of Lancers and the Pajeros.

Originally Posted by aniyo

I wonder how do few companies specialize in appointing horrible dealers. Skoda, VW, Nissan, Renault and few generally get good ones, like Suzuki, Hyundai and Honda.

No offense to anybody but I feel that's more of a reflection on the overall levels of ethics and professionalism in our country. Caveat emptor still applies largely in our society

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Voted Yes. In India, where majority car buyers still shy away from Tata cars even after their recent turnaround, I doubt there's any goodwill left with Nissan for customers to consider them even if they came up with a great new product

[Turrrb0]

Originally Posted by locusjag

I haven't voted here at all.

If Nissan were to launch the Leaf in India, they'll find that they can turn over a new leaf. I've seen it in action in the US and it is so practical for daily use.

And I owned a Nissan SUV in the US for 4 years with no troubles. What's more, some of their products there (other than the Leaf) are cutting edge examples - the 2018 Rogue model came with a level of autonomous driving capability for instance.

Anyways, even if we're talking about buying a Leaf here in India, their after sales support network's reputation in India would hold me back from considering it. They need good products such as the Leaf and a huge distribution and service network revamp. That's how they can claw back from the labyrinth they're sliding into in this country.

Nissan in fact is/was planning to launch the leaf in the coming future. Albeit with a price tag of around 35-40 L ex-showroom. I don't see how that will magically turn their fortunes around. It will at best do as well as cars like the Prius does in India.

https://www.autocarindia.com/car-rev...t-drive-412670

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by Turrrb0

Nissan in fact is/was planning to launch the leaf in the coming future. Albeit with a price tag of around 35-40 L ex-showroom. I don't see how that will magically turn their fortunes around. It will at best do as well as cars like the Prius does in India.

That's the part that's in the wind, you're right. With the Leaf, they've proven that they have the knowhow with e-vehicles. Whether they'll have the gumption to drive down those costs by heavy localization, that remains to be seen.

Or what's really stopping them from building a budget Leaf by another name but with the same tech here in India? This Government will lay out a red carpet for them, what with talks of a gigafactory for Lithium cell production and all that. Nissan have the key and a foot in the door really to carve out a niche for themselves.