Renault Nissan India to start third shift soon

Chennai, June 16: Franco-Japanese car major Renault Nissan India will soon start its third shift at their Oragadam plant here to jack up its capacity, a top official said here on Wednesday, June 15.

"The plant is running in two shifts. We will start the third shift soon. I will say it should happen in the coming weeks. With the third shift, the plant's capacity will be two lakh units...," Renault India Managing Director Marc Nassif told reporters.

According to the company officials, the plant is of flexible type, producing vehicles from both Nissan and Renault on a single line.

Nassif said the facility would have an initial capacity of two lakh units and can reach four lakh units in future.

Top officials of Renault were here to open its 13th showroom in the country and to formally launch their luxury sedan "Fluence" in Tamil Nadu market. The company would soon open their 14th outlet in Pune.

With the introduction of its flagship "Fluence", the company plans to bring in four new models in India in the next 15 months, including a product manufactured from the Chennai facility.

While the diesel variant Fluence costs Rs 12.99 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai), the petrol version is available at Rs 14.40 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai), he said.

France-based automajor Renault and Japanese car maker Nissan joined hands in 2008 to set up a manufacturing facility at Oragadam, with an investment of Rs 4,500 crore spread over a period of seven years.

While the first hatchback "Micra" was rolled out from Nissan's stable last year, the flagship luxury sedan "Fluence" from Renault was launched as a Completely Knocked Down (CKD) unit this year.

PTI