The Japanese have a word that every salaried person in the country understands. Nomikai. Nomi means drinking and kai means partying. On May 15 this year, 17 members of a team from Nissan Motor Company in Yokohama decided they deserved a nomikai. Reason: Almost four years after the 2,67,000-employee-strong company decided that it would bring the Datsun brand back to life, Nissan okayed a manufacturing contract for the vehicle to be rolled out in Russia.
So what’s that got to do with us?
Everything. The nomikai in May has an umbilical link to Nissan’s plans for a bigger splash in India. On July 15, everybody who matters in Nissan Motor Company will be in New Delhi for the global unveiling of the Datsun by Carlos Ghosn, 59, chief executive officer of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
To make it big in fast-growing markets such as India, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa, Nissan decided that it has to gamble big. It decided to revive the Datsun brand, which it had killed deliberately in the mid-1980s, and create a car specifically for these markets, since the main Nissan repertoire hasn’t scored. (In India, Nissan’s market share is a micro dot—1.3 percent.)
Employees at Nissan’s distribution partner in India, Hover Automotive, are also working unusually late hours to finalise the standard operating procedures for customer handling at dealerships. The idea of a separate dealer network in addition to Hover is being tossed around. A new vice-president, Ajay Raghuvanshi, has been poached from Hyundai India and is evaluating this idea’s potential. Another team at Hover is busy working out the details of the ‘shop in shop’ model through which the Datsun will be sold at existing dealerships. The dress code of Datsun’s sales staff, which will be different from that of people selling other Nissan cars (Micra, Sunny, et al), is under review. Terms and conditions of new dealerships (1,500 sq ft and four bays of workshop area compared to 3,000 sq ft and 10 bays in the past) are being given the final touches to invite applicants.
“A person sitting in Yokohama headquarters, how will he know what will be the impact of the product in the local market? The right guy is the guy who has been born and brought up in that region,” says Gupta. And it is this local perspective that translates into understanding what the customer really wants in the car.
(This story appears in the 12 July, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Datsun will available in HATCHBACK OR SEDAN OR both.
on Jan 8, 2014Not clear, which segment is Nissan targeting Datsun? Luxury, mid-size or low end models? What is the car specs? Can we get some more insights to this? Will India roll out a prototype or have a production run team set up here? What is the Russian setup going to roll-out? The strategy would be clear with these inputs coming in. India does have a fair amount of competition at all segments
on Jul 11, 2013complete view.
on Jul 9, 2013