The Nissan-Renault alliance wants to land a third partner into its Rs 4,500 crore Chennai factory project, which is scheduled to manufacture cars and SUVs by 2010. Earlier Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) pulled out early last year from the three-way joint venture (JV) citing the lack of synergy.
After that Nissan-Renault officials invited the Hinduja group company to move its light commercial vehicle (LCV) joint venture project with Nissan to Chennai to better use the plant’s 400,000 unit-a-year capacity. But Ashok Leyland turned down the offer. Nissan has a $500-million joint venture with Ashok Leyland for light commercial vehicles which signed a memorandum of understanding with the local government for a 380-acre new factory in Pillaipakkam, also near Chennai, with 100,000-unit-a-year capacity. It is this project that Nissan-Renault want Ashok Leyland to shift to its Chennai plant.
Anyway Nissan India spokesperson said ,“Nissan is going ahead with its small car plans, while Renault has put its plans on hold due to financial problems. I have no confirmation of anything beyond this,”.
Renault is going slow on plans to manufacture its new cars at the Chennai factory, Nissan’s India strategy is still on track. At the Chennai plant, Nissan will produce a family of models based on its new A-platform, including the next generation small car, Micra.Also Nissan plans to introduce nine products in India, ranging from the ULC car, a compact car and LCV to higher-end SUVs and sedans, including five locally-built products by 2012.