Nissan India inaugurated its new Sales and Marketing headquarters in Mumbai today and it was inaugurated by Takashi Hata, Senior Vice President Nissan Motor Co., Ltd and Chairman of Nissan's Africa, Middle East and India region.
The facility currently houses sales, marketing, communications and dealer management teams for both Nissan and Datsun brands, among other key functions. This step shows that the Japanese company has changed gears and is taking a stride forward to grabbing a big chunk of the market share in India.
With the launch of the Datsun brand in India, Nissan has been able to get a strong foot hold and the much needed boost post their contract termination with Hoover Automotive India, a company who looked after their sales and service arms.
A chat with Mr. Hata revealed that the mood at Nissan India has changed after the company took charge from Hoover. He said that the company will first expand the dealership network from the current 120 to 200 in the course of this year. Having said that he also went on to tell us about the new launches that we can expect from both the Nissan and Datsun stable. The facelifts of the Nissan Sunny and Evalia are expected this year, while the Datsun Go+ MPV will be launched later this fiscal year. He admitted that the Datsun brand has been well accepted in India as the sales figures of the GO hatchback stand testimony to that.
Talking about the possibilities of bringing in cars like the Qashqai, Juke and even the new X-Trail, Hata said, "We have a lot of products globally and the potential to get them to India, but we will look at the market trends and then decide on the launches."
We spoke to Mr. Hata at length and here is a video of the entire interview.
Nissan also announced the appointment of Guillaume Sicard as Deputy President, Nissan India Operations, effective July 1st 2014. Sicard will report to Kenichiro Yomura, President Nissan India Operations. He will be responsible for accelerating strategic decision making and streamlining operational efficiency to help achieve the company's objectives in India.
