NEW DELHI, Apr 12:
With a third entry level car from Datsun stable slated for launch next year, Japanese auto major Nissan is seeking a bigger play in India’s small car market dominated by Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai.
The company, which sold a total of about 17,000 units of Datsun vehicles in the country in the first year since the brand made a comeback last year, is looking at having around 60 exclusive showrooms of the brand, mostly in smaller towns by 2016.
“In the small car segment in India, Maruti commands around 75 per cent of the market and Hyundai 22 per cent. We were just about one per cent and have now have increased to 3 per cent with Datsun coming in,” Nissan India Operations President Guillaume Sicard said. He further said: “Nowhere else in the world you would find such a dominance by a single manufacturer. So we are looking to gradually increase our share in the segment.”
While he did not share an exact target, Sicard said: “In the first year of launch of the Datsun brand, we have sold around 17,000 units. In the next few weeks we will cross the 20,000 mark and going forward the aim is to take the number higher.”
Car sales in India stood at 18,76,017 units in 2014-15, up 4.99 per cent from 17,86,826 units in the previous fiscal. (PTI)
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