(HT)
Nissan Motor Corp.’s 15% global layoffs to shore up its fortunes after a failed merger with Japanese peer Honda Motor Corp. will not impact its business in India, where the carmaker aims to scale up sales by more than fourfold over the next two years.
“There will not be any disruption to our teams here or our product plans in the country,” Nissan India managing director Saurabh Vatsa said on Wednesday during a virtual press meet. “We are on track to introduce new products and scale up growth in the market.”
The maker of Magnite, a five-seater sport utility vehicle (SUV), plans to introduce three new car models in the next two years and increase sales outlets from 159 to 180 in the ongoing financial year.
Optimism about the world’s third-largest automobile market contrasts with Nissan’s global chief executive Ivan Espinosa’s job and cost cuts to protect profits.
Espinosa had announced on May 13 that the company will shutter seven factories globally and cut 11,000 jobs in areas like manufacturing, sales, administration, research and contract staff.
Nissan’s operating profit for the financial year ended 31 March plunged by 88% to $472 million because of a slowdown in key markets like the US and China.
The company also refrained from offering growth guidance due to uncertainty over US tariffs.
Its merger talks with Honda Motor also collapsed in February this year because the two sides could not agree on the terms.
The Indian business management stays upbeat amid this turbulence. The Japanese company plans to invest 700 million euros in the market by 2026 to fund expansion.
Vatsa also said that a new multi-utility vehicle will be launched in the first three months of 2026 in India, followed by a five-seater SUV by the middle of the year.
Nissan only makes the Magnite in the country and imports the X-Trail SUV as completely built units (CBUs).
“We are also exploring what more models can be brought in as CBUs in the country,” Vatsa said during the call.
In 2027, the company aims to launch a seven-seater SUV as it has set domestic sales and export targets of 100,000 units each for the fiscal ending March 2027.
Nissan sold 24,904 cars in the fiscal ended March, down 9% over a year earlier amid a slowdown in the broader car industry, which saw growth in sales fall to 2% to 4.3 million.
The Japanese company plans to invest 700 million euros in the Indian market by 2026 to fund the expansion.
The company announced in March that Renault will buy Nissan’s entire stake in Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt. Ltd, the joint manufacturing unit they set up in 2010.
“Our plans for new SUVs in the Indian market remain intact, and we will continue our vehicle exports to other markets under the ‘One Car, One World’ business strategy for India,” Expinosa said at the time of the announcement.
The company sees the current capacity of 480,000 vehicles per year shared with Renault as enough to cater to its existing sales targets.
