Welcome back!
New Delhi: On June 16 2011, the 1,00,000th Micra rolled out of the Renault Nissan Alliance plant in Chennai, the production of this car had started in May 2010. The workforce has been multiplied threefold to meet the consumer demands within India.
Escalating inflation, sky-high interest rates, bad roads, labor problems; nothing seems to dissuade the global auto giants from making a beeline for the Indian automobile markets. The new mantra for these valiant auto manufacturers is “Made in India, made for India”; they brave the grime, dust and heat to setup their manufacturing units in India. The increased spending on infrastructure and rising salaries, and demographic dividend have made India inviting as never before. The auto industry is witnessing its sharpest slowdown, the growth is crippling at 10–11 percent, but even that is pleasing in these times of global slowdown.
The prominence of the Indian auto market was reinforced by the fact that Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director Toyota Kirloskar Motors, deemed the launch of Toyota Etios Liva, the realization of his dream to “make something available to every section of the Indian society”. Toyota has forayed in the hatchback segment with Etios Liva. Their fleet has mostly premium priced models namely Corolla, Innova and Prado. Whereas Etios Liva is designed and developed specifically for the Indian customers; it is the part of the Auto-giant’s strategy to make further inroads in the India auto markets.
The rapidly maturing and developing auto component industry is also attracting major international manufacturers. The road to being self sufficient in India is developing a car in the country and increasing the localization level. Stressing on localization, the MD and CEO of Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd, Kou Kimura said, “A plant that provides us with a skilled and localized production base is a key part of our strategy for profitable and sustainable growth within India, and Micra’s success is only the first step in realizing our potential in this market.”