Thaindian News

Chennai, Aug 26 (IANS) Franco-Japanese automobile partnership Renault Nissan Alliance India Pvt Ltd Friday said it has crossed manufacturing 100,000 petrol engines last month and has started making 1.5 litre petrol engines for Nissan’s new mid-sized sedan Sunny.

“The plant has set milestones that are creditable on a global level. It makes me feel proud of the local skill-set that are driving it to such high levels,” said Kou Kimura, CEO and MD of Renault Nissan Alliance.

The car plant, located at Orgadam near here, started manufacturing petrol engines in May 2010. The plant makes 1.2 litre and 1.5 litre petrol engines.

The plant currently manufactures the Nissan Micra and Renault Fluence models and production of Nissan Sunny and Renault Koleos will commence shortly.

The plant had achieved a similar milestone June this year when it rolled out 100,000 Micra cars for Nissan Motor India Private Ltd.

Meanwhile, Nissan Motor Company plans to get nearly 10 percent of its global production out of India in the mid term.

“In 2011, India will produce about four percent of Nissan’s total volume. If I project that forward to the mid-term, one can only speculate, but this may rise to about 10 percent if our plans are executed successfully,” Nissan Motor Company’s executive vice president Andy Palmer told IANS recently.

In 2010, Nissan’s global production logged a 37.3 percent year-on-year growth to 4,053,701 units — crossing the four million production mark for the first time for the calendar year.

Stressing that India is one of Nissan’s key opportunities for growth and export, Palmer said: “We do see a mid-term need-to-grow capacity. In 2011, India capacity is used for about 70 percent exports. I would expect exports to become less as a percentage in the mid-term but will remain an important source of supply.”

Last fiscal, Nissan’s Indian marketing subsidiary Nissan Motor India sold 12,302 Micras in the domestic market and exported 55,321 units.