France-based automobile manufacturer Renault and Japan-headquartered Nissan on Monday committed investments of $600 million (around Rs 5,300 crore) in the country 15 years after foraying into the Tamil Nadu automobile industry. The fresh round of investments would witness roll out of six new models between the two companies including -- two electric vehicles -- representing the two global brands, Nissan Global chief operating officer and Member, Alliance Board Ashwani Gupta said in Chennai.
French auto major Renault on Monday said it will buy out its Japanese partner Nissan's stake in their Indian joint venture -- Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd. Renault Group would own 100 per cent of Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd (RNAIPL), by acquiring the 51 per cent shareholding currently held by Nissan, the company said in a statement.
Renault-Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd (RNAIPL) on Wednesday appointed Kou Kimura as chief executive officer and managing director for its Chennai manufacturing facility with effect from April 1.
German auto major Daimler and Franco-Japanese alliance Renault-Nissan on Wednesday announced a three-way tie up, including equity swaps, for co-operation in development of small cars and light commercial vehicles.
The Renault Nissan alliance announced on Thursday the creation of new business centre by the name of The Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Private Ltd in Chennai.
The Renault-Nissan combine is tying up with Bajaj to introduce low-cost cars in Israel, which will cost nearly half of what people are accustomed to paying here, a media report said. Renault-Nissan is presently working on developing low-cost cars for the price-intolerant Asian market, Ha'aretz reported.
The Renault-Nissan alliance aims to have a 10 per cent share in the Indian passenger vehicles market
The automaker said that production at the Renault Nissan Alliance Plant, where Nissan, Renault and Datsun brands are manufactured, had gone up by 15 per cent and was expected to increase further on the back of increasing export orders.
The Renault-Nissan alliance currently employs around 8,000 workers at its Chennai plant
The alliance has already pushed back the launch deadline twice over the last three years.
Nissan is targeting annual domestic sales and exports of 100,000 units each by financial year 2026-27.
The Renault Nissan Alliance has said that its Oragadam greenfield facility near Chennai - its first in the world - will be a template for its upcoming Morocco facility, with a few changes only in the back-end engineering. The company is training 30 senior employees drawn from various verticals at its Oragadam plant.
Two Japanese auto giants, Honda and Nissan, are moving towards a potential merger, but it remains unclear how their Indian operations will be immediately impacted.
Tata Motors' Nano may be struggling to survive, but Renault Nissan alliance Chairman and chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn is glad the group followed the lead of "visionary" Ratan Tata's dream project
Rajiv Bajaj talks about his de-risking strategy, as well as his company's much-speculated relationship with Renault-Nissan
Tamil Nadu -- often dubbed as India's own Detroit due to its thriving automobile manufacturing ecosystem -- is in no mood to miss the EV bus either. Recent developments attest to it. Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) maker VinFast has promised a $2 billion plant in the southern state. And as promised earlier, the work on Tata Motors-JLR plant will kick off next week, on September 28, after the foundation stone laying ceremony.
'We are very quickly going to announce the timeline of our launches, which should start giving us the turnaround'
In its first official engagement with the Indian government, Elon Musk-led Tesla and other global automotive (auto) manufacturers sought clarification on the new electric vehicle (EV) policy, specifically regarding investment guidelines and the timeline for the domestic value addition (DVA) requirement. Officials who attended the meeting told Business Standard that the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) tried to understand whether the complete investment would be made within three or five years and the duration they would have to achieve the 50 per cent DVA. "The consultation meeting was convened to address queries from auto OEMs.
In 2008, the companies had planned a tripartite joint venture entity that would build and sell a $3,000 (about Rs 1.4 lakh) competitor to Tata Motors' Nano, the world's cheapest car. Bajaj was to have a 50 per cent stake, with Renault and Nissan having 25 per cent each.
'India needs many more job creators, both in manufacturing and services, to make it big.' 'For that, the red carpet must be rolled out fully and for all investors without holding back,' suggests Nivedita Mookerji.
The first automobiles from the facility would roll out in the second half of 2009, Kashub Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra group, said after signing a MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for the project.
According to industry sources, Nissan will roll-out the latest generation Micra from the plant in May for the Indian market.
The factory is likely to come up beside the current Renault-Nissan factory at Oragadam, near Chennai, according to reports.
Months after Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) exited a joint venture with Renault and Nissan Motor, the French and Japanese auto firms have got their car project back on the road, signing an MoU today with the Tamil Nadu government for a greenfield facility near Chennai.
'It can be used to build three-wheelers, vans, too'
The global alliance between Renault-Nissan and Daimler AG announced today is likely to add one more car to the list of small cars jostling for market share.
'Bajaj is proceeding as before to implement this project and any financial or other constraints that Renault-Nissan may have will have no bearing on the ability of Bajaj to implement this project,' Bajaj Auto Ltd Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said in a statement. He, however, did not elaborate on what kind of financial constraints Renault-Nissan is facing while carrying out the project.
Japanese auto major Nissan on Wednesday said it is discontinuing Datsun brand in India, nine years after the company kicked off the marque's global relaunch in the country. Having failed in its ambitious global relaunch of Datsun, Nissan had in 2020 discontinued the brand in Russia and Indonesia, the other two countries along with South Africa and India which were marked as key markets targeting the entry level car segment. Confirming the move to discontinue the Datsun brand, Nissan India in a statement said, "Production of Datsun redi-GO has ceased at the Chennai plant (Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd). "Sales of the model still continue (till the stock lasts)."
With the threat of a third Covid-19 wave looming large, companies are scrambling to protect employees and keep operations safe--from a no-jab-no-entry-at-workplace policy to ramping up vaccination, it's an all-out effort to prevent the scale of devastation seen in the first two waves. At least two top steel companies--Tata Steel and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India)--are pushing for vaccination certificates for entry into work premises. AM/NS India, a joint venture between world's leading steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, and Japan's Nippon Steel, is set to make vaccination the certificate a requirement from July 1.
The hatchback model is christened as K2 and will take inspiration from Micra.
Ghosn's partnership with motorcycle and auto-rickshaw maker Bajaj Auto got most publicity.
Carlos Ghosn has appointed small-car specialist Gerard Detourbet to design one specially for India.
They just don't have similar colours, Datsun's marketing campaign too seems be inspired from Maruti Alto 800.
Renault readies a practical and spacious people-carrier for a 2014 Auto Expo.
Bajaj Auto's new four-wheeled people-carrier might well create an entirely new category.
The Datsun brand which belongs to Nissan has been recently revived to introduce value-for-money cars in emerging markets and the first two cars to wear this nameplate are expected by 2014.
Prototype for ultra low-cost car not ready, says Renault; getting out five other vehicles is priority for next year.
Singing a different tune than its foreign partners, Bajaj Auto on Friday said it will launch a four-wheeler commercial vehicle in mid-2012 from the ultra-low cost car (ULC) platform, which was originally planned to roll out a car with Franco-Japanese alliance Renault-Nissan.
Renault Kwid is a good entry-level car for Indian roads.
Nissan Motor Company on Friday said it has appointed Akira Sakurai as the managing director and CEO of Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd (RNAIPL) and has made a few more changes in the management to establish itself as one of the major players in the country.