 "Why Nissan's efforts to capture India market by 2017 may be delayed")
New Delhi: Nissan Motor Co’s target to capture a 10 percent share of India’s passenger vehicle market by 2017 may be delayed due to slumping domestic car sales in a slowing economy, the head of the Japanese automaker’s local unit said on Wednesday.
The local car market is bracing for a second year of falling sales, hit by high interest rates and fuel costs. Nissan held a 1.4 percent share of the local passenger vehicle market at end-February, industry data showed.
[caption id=“attachment_76834” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption]
“We are reviewing our mid-term plan,” Kenichiro Yomura, president of Nissan India, told Reuters. “I don’t know. It could be later,” he said, when asked if the company was on track to achieve its market share target for India.
Nissan still hopes to achieve double-digit market share in India but the timing is under debate given the car maker’s current performance and market conditions, Yomura said.
His comments come after Nissan last month said it would be willing to fall short of its global market share target of 8 percent by end-March 2017 in order to ensure it meets an 8 percent operating profit margin goal for the same period.
Nissan is hoping its low-cost Datsun brand, resurrected after three decades to drive growth in emerging markets, will help its sales in India.
On Wednesday, it said it would begin selling its first Datsun model – the GO hatchback – from $5,100 in India, where the brand makes its debut ahead of other emerging markets.
GO, whose price will range from 312,270 rupees to 369,999 rupees, will compete in India’s crowded small-car market, which includes top carmaker Maruti Suzuki’s popular Alto 800 hatchback, which starts at about 276,000 rupees.
“If I just look at it from the initial pricing point of view, it looks pretty competitive,” said Abdul Majeed, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers India.
Datsun cars will go on sale in Indonesia, Russia and South Africa later this year.
Reuters
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