Off late, car manufacturers across the world have begun looking at India with quite a different perspective. Most, have now realised what an important automobile hub our country is - both export and import wise. In keeping with this trend Nissan has declared that it will be bringing its premium brand, Infiniti, and the GT-R sports car to India. It also plans to build a compact SUV for our market and all this is being done to strengthen the Datsun brand here.
Datsun has just entered the Indian market and already has on sale the GO, soon it will be releasing the GO+ and the Redi GO. The next obvious question that arose when the news was released was whether these cars would be produced in India, and Takashi Hata, Nissan’s chairman for India, Africa and West Asia, said talks with the headquarters are on regarding local production to make them competitive.
“At the very high end, we will have to go to this area of Infiniti and GT-R and I am sure Indian market is going to grow in this segment,” Hata said in an interview. “If I am convinced that it is going to drive up the value of the brand, we are going to bring in the cars.” It will take at least three-four years before Nissan introduces these two models in the country, a company executive said, on condition of anonymity.
The Infiniti brand, famous for its luxury sedans, coupes and sports utility vehicles (SUVs), will be pitted against Mercedes-Benz and BMW range in India. With this, Nissan is targeting the premium luxury car segment in India, this segment has reported decent sales despite the economic downturn. In India, every two out of 100 cars sold is a premium car.
As of now, news is that company will be importing the GT-R and the Infiniti cars will be imported via CKD. Rumours of the Infiniti brand coming to India and also of the GT-R have been circulating for a long time now. We heard it way back in 2011 and now we think with the economic climate improving, a new government in place and the positive growth in the Indian automobile market, their arrival might just speed up. Toyota also has plans of bringing in the Lexus to India and is in the research phase now.
