Chennai, January 18, 2010: Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd (NMIPL) in an endeavour to achieve maximum customer outreach has opened its flagship dealership in Chennai and 7th dealership in the country. With the inauguration of Sherif Nissan, Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd (NMIPL) follows its plans of expanding its network of authorized dealers. More than expanding the number of sales outlets, Nissan is committed to offer its high quality service standards to guarantee consumer satisfaction. Mr. Akira Sakurai, MD, Renault Nissan Automotive India (P) Ltd (RNAIPL) and Mr. Grahame Cornforth, Sr. Vice President & Director –Nissan Operations, Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre (RNTBCI) were also present on this occasion.
Mr. Kiminobu Tokuyama, Managing Director and CEO, NMIPL said, “The launch of our flagship dealership in Chennai, our home-town, marks a significant step towards increasing our ability to reach commercial coverage in more than 38.66% of the national territory. We have come to India to become a major player and Chennai will play an important role in our Indian operations as we gear up for the start of production of our locally made Global Compact Car in May 2010.”
In the process of establishing the Nissan Brand in India, NMIPL - in partnership with Hover Automotive India, its marketing, sales, after-sales service and dealer development arm - is rapidly preparing its dealer network structure to support the up-coming growth in the country.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. G M Singh, VC & MD, Hover Automotive India (P) Ltd said, “It gives us immense pleasure to launch the new dealership in Chennai, a city which will play an important role in the global growth strategy of Nissan. In our journey to embed the Nissan brand in the hearts of Indian car buyers, we have been successful to engage with dealer partners of a high quality who understand that the difference lies in creating customer value and a superior ownership experience. We aim to have around 12 dealer partners* by start of production in May 2010 increasing upto over 20 by the time of the launch of our compact car in July 2010. We are well on track to achieve our target of over 55 dealer partners by 2012 giving us a footprint of covering 85% of the Indian market.”
This new dealership located at No 133, Velachery Main Road, Guindy, Chennai-32 is directed by Mr. Shoukath Sherif, Chairman & CEO, Sherif Group.
This facility is spread over 3750 square meters of serviceable area to cater to customer’s need of quick and better service. Customer can see, touch, and feel the product in a comfortable ambience. Sherif Nissan’s team of sales consultant and service team are trained personally by Hover and Nissan to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction.
The line of vehicle offered by NMIPL is Nissan Teana and Nissan X-Trail. The company is expected to close the fiscal year with approximately 300 unit sales.
The city of Chennai plays a strategic role in Nissan’s growth strategy globally. Nissan with its global alliance partner Renault is setting up the manufacturing plant at Oragadam in Chennai, which will manufacture the first locally made compact car built on the global V-platform in May 2010. The trial production is currently underway and the plant will be inaugurated in March 2010. The Chennai plant will also be the sourcing hub for the global compact car for over 100 countries, especially Europe and Middle East. Nissan, which aims to introduce 9 new models by 2012, will have 5 of these locally produced at this plant. Also, Chennai plays host to the Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Private Ltd (RNTBCI) which is contributing to Nissan’s global operations in the key areas of Advanced Research and Development, Advanced CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering), Product Development, Digital Vehicle Development, Information Systems Development, Indian and Global Parts Sourcing.
