By IANS,
Chennai: Renault Nissan Automobile India, a joint venture between Japanese Nissan Motor Co and French Renault, is all set to start commercial production of a compact car this May, the company said here Monday.
“The result of the first production trial is good. We will start rolling out the cars in May,” said chief executive and managing director Akira Sakurai at the launch of a Nissan Motor dealership here Monday.
In the first trial, more than 30 units were produced and the trial production of power train is on.
Sakurai said the company has 97 vendors and the local content of the first model that will be rolled out will be 85 percent.
The staff strength at the plant will be increased to around 1,500 people by May from 1,000 currently.
Regarding Nissan’s joint venture with Ashok Leyland to make light commercial vehicles, Sakurai said discussions were to zero-in on the type of vehicle to be manufactured.
According to Kiminobu Tokuyama, managing director of Nissan Motor India that markets Nissan vehicles in the country, the company will be exporting cars made in India by the end of this year.
Nissan Motor plans to have 30 dealerships operational by the end of this year and 55 by 2012. Currently, it has 23 dealers in the country.