• Thursday, March 28, 2024

Business

Nissan CEO bets on India’s auto market potential

Nissan Motor’s president and CEO Makoto Uchida (L) and Nissan COO Ashwani Gupta. (Photo by BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

INDIA offers huge opportunities for vehicle makers and electrification is the pillar that could change the country’s automotive industry, Nissan Motor Corporation chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta on Thursday (26) said.

Speaking at the 61st annual session of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), he asked the Indian firms to adopt digitalisation in many areas, including businesses, processes and consumer experience.

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“India is the fourth largest (automotive) market. In five to six years, it should be the third-largest market. However, there is a big opportunity,” he said, adding the low car penetration of just 20 per 1,000 offers a “huge opportunity in front of us”.

Nissan CEO bets on India's auto market potential
Nissan ‘Magnite’ car (Photo by NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images)

He also said, “The challenge, which we all have, is how we are going to capitalise on this opportunity. I would say once again that electrification is the pillar, which could clearly transform the Indian automotive industry.”

Citing Nissan’s example, he said by 2030, 100 per cent of the company’s cars will have the electrified options. In Europe, it will be four years earlier.

In 2026, the total cost of ownership, price point, and driving excitement seen from the customer on electric cars will be for sure better than the ICE (internal combustion engine) cars, Gupta said.

“This is where the tipping point (is) and we all have to work towards this tipping point so that it becomes a natural choice for the customer to go for electrification,” he added.

Gupta said India’s “great know-how” of digitalisation must be utilised to foster innovations.

“We in India are doing innovations. However, we are limiting it to individual innovation,” he said, adding this has prevented innovations from becoming ‘disruptions’. He said the challenge can be overcome through digitalisation.

“It is not digitalisation of data. It is the digitalisation of processes. It is the digitalisation of business. It is the digitalisation of customer experience, digitalisation of end-to-end, and that’s how I think we can achieve the disruption,” the official said.

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