Mumbai, Aug 30: Nissan Motor India today started production of its mid-size sedan—Sunny—at its Chennai facility, which will hit the market during the forthcoming festive season.
This is the second completely made-in-India car to be rolled out by Nissan from the Chennai plant within 15 months of its first local roll-out. The auto maker had unveiled the car early this month which is being readied to hit the market by the coming festive season, the company said in a statement.
Nissan's first made-in-India hatchback Micra was launched in July 2010.
“Start of production of the Sunny is a significant milestone for Nissan in India. We wanted the mid-size sedan to be available during the upcoming festival season and we successfully accelerated our work programme to make that schedule,” Nissan Motor India Managing Director and Chief Executive Kiminobu Tokuyama said.
The Sunny is being rolled out with 85 percent local content, out of which 40 percent are sourced from Chennai itself, the company said.
“Production of the Sunny reinstates our commitment to India and is the second of many other local products to come,” Renault Nissan Alliance India Managing Director and Chief Executive Kou Kimura said.
The Sunny is expected to appeal to young families looking for a mid-sized sedan that combines a dynamic upscale design with space.
The Sunny was designed at the Nissan design centre in Japan along with inputs from 170 countries, where it would be sold. The car made its debut at the 8th China (Guangzhou) international auto expo last December. The 10th generation car is based on the popular V-(Versatile) platform, the same used in the Nissan Micra.
Nissan Motor India is a fully-owned subsidiary of Nissan Motor of Japan. In February 2008, Nissan, with its global alliance partner Renault, had signed an MoU with Tamil Nadu to set up a plant at Oragadam, near Chennai with an investment of Rs 4,500 crore.
The plant has an initial capacity of 2,00,000 units which can be scaled up to 4,00,000 units per annum. PTI
