Nissan India: Export Hub for Africa, GCC; Tekton SUV Launch

Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) Japanese car maker Nissan on Thursday said the company is using India as an export platform and is targeting to complement the line-up that it has in Africa, South Africa, and the GCC market, including Saudi Arabia.

At a media interaction with the company's the senior executives Guillaume Cartier, Chief Performance Officer, Nissan, and Massimiliano Messina, Chairperson for Nissan's Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) region and its Indian arm Managing Director Saurabh Vatsa, said that it would take a call on bringing in an electric vehicle in the Indian market by 2028 but ruled out PHEV (plug-in hybrid) as an immediate priority.

"This is important. We are using India as an export platform and we are targeting to complement the line-up that we are having in Africa, South Africa, and the GCC market, including Saudi Arabia. So that's important from that point of view," they said.

The officials were speaking at the global premiere of Nissan's new mid-size SUV, Tekton. Launched at a price ranging between Rs 10.49 lakh and Rs 18.59 lakh, the all-new premier C-SUV, Tekton, comes in 11 variants and is already available for bookings with deliveries set to begin from July 20.

The latest model will be locally manufactured and exported to markets across Africa, South Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, strengthening India's position as a global production base within Nissan's network.

The company said it expects India, GCC and African markets to grow, and added that "hopefully the crisis that we are in around the Gulf will stop".


"So it's war and we are aiming to see the growth with the war within an environment which is growing. So it's, I would say, doubly important," one of the executives said.

Despite the war, this is an area of the globe where some countries unfortunately are used to these kinds of crises, said another senior executive, adding, "we are not in front of the situation that we were during COVID or semiconductors where demand went down fully".

"We still have some demand, maybe not at the level we planned, but it's not zero. When we are making investments for the next four or five years, we try to have a macro perspective. I hope, crossed fingers, that the dynamics of those three regions (Africa, the Middle East and India).

Stating that at present as much as 93 per cent of the total market remains ICE and Nissan India is focusing on bringing volume into the market, the company said it will bring EVs in the domestic market when it is ready with something new.

The company does not think there is a need to accelerate before the market is ready or mature enough, the executives said, adding that Nissan has hybrid and EV technology to fulfil customer needs, adding, "at the right time we will do what is needed.

The company said it plans to expand its dealership network to 250 across the country, including tier 3 and tier 4 cities, by the end of this year, from 135 that it had at the end of the last calendar year.