marketing strategies of nissan motor india pvt ltd

1. SUMMER TRAINING REPORT ON
MARKETING STRATEGIES OF
NISSAN MOTOR INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED
By
MUDIT DEVAL
352
Faculty Mentor
Prof. Praveen Malik

2. TOPICS
COMPANY PROFILE.
INTRODUCTION.
RESEARCH.
FINDINGS.
SUGGESTIONS.
CONCLUSION.

3. COMPANY PROFILE
•Nissan Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational
automobile manufacture headquartered in Yokohama, Japan.
• Since 1999, Nissan has been part of the Renault–Nissan Alliance, a
partnership between Nissan and French automaker Renault. As of 2013,
Renault holds a 43.4% voting stake in Nissan, while Nissan holds a 15%
non-voting stake in Renault.
• Carlos Ghosn serves as CEO of both the companies.
• Nissan is sixth largest automaker in the world behind Toyota, General
Motors, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai Motor Group, and Ford .
• Taken together, the Renault–Nissan Alliance would be the worlds
fourth largest automaker.

4. Brands
Nissan: Nissan's volume models are sold worldwide under the Nissan
brand.
Datsun: Until 1983, Nissan automobiles in most export markets were
sold under the Datsun brand. In 1984 the Datsun brand was phased out
and the Nissan brand was phased in. All cars in 1984 had both the
Datsun and Nissan branding on them and in 1985 the Datsun name was
completely dropped. In July 2013, Nissan announced the relaunch of
Datsun as a brand targeted at emerging markets.
Infiniti: Since 1989, Nissan has sold its luxury models under the Infiniti
brand.
NISMO: Nissan's in-house tuning shop is NISMO, short for "Nissan
Motorsport International Limited." NISMO is being re-positioned as
Nissan's performance brand

5. INTRODUCTION
The Indian automobile sector is one of its most vibrant industries. The
industry accounts for 22 per cent of the country's manufacturing gross
domestic product (GDP).
It comprises passenger cars, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and
commercial vehicles and is currently the seventh-largest in the world
with an average annual production of 17.5 million vehicles, of which 2.3
million are exported.
A fall in interest rates and stable fuel prices are expected to create an
environment conducive for growth in this industry.
The Indian government encourages foreign investment in the
automobile sector and allows 100 per cent FDI under the automatic
route. It is a fully delicensed industry and free imports of automotive
components are allowed.

6. Nissan India: The Way Forward
Nissan has gone on record to state that it targets 10% market share in
India by 2016. The company wants to get there by launching 10 new
cars and taking the number of dealerships to 300 (currently ~100).

7. Nissan India's share of the passenger car market in July 2013 was less than 1% & 10%
market share in <4 years is a tall order coming from a brand that outsells only
Hindustan Motors, Fiat and (sometimes) Skoda. Further, other than Maruti, the sole
manufacturer to cross the 10% share mark is Korean giant, Hyundai.
Leave aside growth, Nissan's market share has actually been taking. In 2012, Nissan
had 1.8% of the market share.

8. So, what's wrong with Nissan's India strategy?
Horrible Marketing & Promotions: Nissan's entire portfolio of cars is under-performing.
There's nothing seriously wrong with the cars; the problem is that Nissan
and its dealers simply aren't able to sell them! The Micra is a decent hatchback
(especially the new Rs. 3.5 lakh version) and the Sunny is a spacious, reliable & fuel-efficient
sedan. The Evalia is well-priced, spacious & fuel efficient, yet it completely
bombed in the market. When Nissan can't successfully market the models it has on
hand today, how is it ever going to handle a wider, more complicated portfolio? New
cars are hardly the solution when branding & marketing are the real issues. Just ask
Chevrolet India!
Export-Oriented Focus: For every car Nissan sells in India , it exports 3 (based on
2012-13 figures). Fact is, Nissan is the 3rd largest vehicle exporter from India (after
Hyundai & Maruti). This, coupled with how Nissan conveniently outsourced its
dealership network, makes it believe that exports are more important to Nissan than
the domestic market. If that's the case, their efforts within the Indian space will always
be half-hearted.

9. Brand Overload: The top 7 car manufacturers in India focus all
their energies on a single brand. Nissan has low brand recall in India,
while Renault was a complete stranger until the Duster came around.
Clearly, both the nameplates are brand new and can't match the
awareness levels of more established players. In the midst of this
comes a 3rd brand - Datsun! If you had a limited marketing budget
(which every company does), would you spend it on strengthening 1
brand, or spread yourselves with 3? As a fresh new player in the
market, would you rather build 1 solid brand or 3 relative unknowns?
To top it off, there is talk of a 4th brand from the group coming soon
(the luxurious Infiniti).
India is a fabulously diverse country with innumerable "local"
markets, cultures, languages & preferences. To put things in
perspective, our country has 82,000 registered newspapers (USA - the
largest auto market - has a 'mere' 13,000). With this diversity comes
marketing complexity. It's impossible for a single group to establish 4
successful automotive brands in the short to medium term.

10. Outsourcing Dealers: There isn't a doubt that Nissan India took
an easy shortcut with establishing the dealer network. It simply
outsourced the task to a master franchise called Hover Automotive. In
effect, customers deal with Hover Automotive, and not Nissan. Likewise
with the dealers, who ended up so frustrated with this arrangement
that they stopped accepting new cars in December 2012! Maruti &
Hyundai consider their sales & service experiences to be a top priority,
so much so that they have large teams of professionals managing the
function. Nissan clearly doesn't care enough about this area to handle
the dealer network itself.

11. Terrible Sales & Service: This is related to the previous
point. Frustrated dealers = frustrated service. Nissan doesn't seem
to realize that the dealer is the face of its brand and by outsourcing
that responsibility, Brand Nissan is being tarnished on the street.
Takes quite a feat to recover from a bad reputation in India where
word of mouth makes & breaks deals.

12. Confused Customers: The Micra, Sunny & Duster are shared
between Nissan & Renault. The real difference between the two is
a bunch of lights, radiator grille and, of course, price. What goes
through the layman's head when he sees identical sedans,
hatchbacks & SUVs, albeit wearing different (relatively unknown)
badges? CONFUSION! As if cross-badging between two brands
wasn't enough, Ashok Leyland will soon be selling a rebadged
Evalia. Then, the upcoming Datsun Go is based on a Nissan Micra.
Would the Swift have had such enormous brand equity if it had an
identical copy from another brand? Would the Innova? The i20? Fat
chance.

13. Datsun: Personally, I think the whole idea behind Datsun's
introduction is flawed. We've witnessed Nissan's products being
intentionally priced below that of Renault, even in the B2 hatchback
space. Doesn't that make Nissan the "cheaper" brand of the group?
The base Micra was recently re-positioned to a price point of Rs. 3.5
lakhs. Doesn't that make Nissan the economy brand already? How
much cheaper do you want to go? Datsun has anyways indicated that
it's starting price will be Rs. 3 lakhs. Does a difference of Rs. 50,000
require an entirely new brand, along with the enormous effort that
goes behind building it? Maruti & Hyundai successfully sell cars for 3
lakhs on one hand, and 6 lakhs on the other. Big deal. Why do you
need a whole new brand for a product that's 50K cheaper?
If the Datsun Go had a diesel motor on offer, that would have been
one good differentiator in the entry segment. However, there is only a
petrol on offer.

14. Lack of Brand USP & Differentiator: Maruti known for trust &
fuel-economy. Hyundai for design, features & quality. Toyota for
reliability and VW for solid, German build / image. What is
Nissan's USP? Unless the brand takes corrective measures, it is
going to end up as another Chevrolet in the country.
Noteworthy to mention that the brand under-performs at both,
the economy segment (Micra) and the luxury (Teana, X-Trail,
370Z).
Unconventional Designs: The pre-facelift Micra looked too
feminine, the Sunny wears oddball lines, the Evalia is too boxy and the
X-Trail is plain ugly. Nissan's cars stand out, though not in a good way.
The styling lacks mass appeal.

15. FINDINGS
•Nissan's entire portfolio of cars is under-performing. There's nothing
seriously wrong with the cars; the problem is that Nissan and its dealers
simply aren't able to sell them.
•Export-Oriented Focus, for every car Nissan sells in India, it exports 3 in
1.
•Brand Overload, The top 7 car manufacturers in India focus all their
energies on a single brand. Nissan has low brand recall in India, while
Renault was a complete stranger until the Duster came around.
•Outsourcing Dealers, There isn't a doubt that Nissan India took an easy
shortcut with establishing the dealer network
•Terrible Sales & Service.
• Confused Customers, The Micra, Sunny & Duster are shared between
Nissan & Renault.

16. SUGGESTIONS
• Spreading yourselves across various brands is really going nowhere.
So, focus on a single brand.
•Successfully marketing cars is no longer rocket science. Differentiate &
sell to your target audience.
•Recruit, develop, train & manage your brand's dealerships yourself.
There is no other way to a successful relationship with your customer.
•Stop selling the same, identical car at different prices under different
brands: Thankfully, Nissan has realised its folly here. They've publicly
stated that the Terrano is the last cross-badged product.
•Give equal importance to the domestic market.

17. CONCLUSION
Nissan India Private Limited has a very good product line in India. Its
plan is to expand their business all over India. The Expansion plan will
help them in achieving high profit and they will get success in the
competition in market. They think their product is good and after some
time they hope that they will do their best. From the survival point of
view, Nissan Motor India Private India Limited should enter into every
aspects of marketing activities to improve the product life in the future
market.