DELHI: Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd is a dark horse of the Indian automobile industry.
It is second only to Hyundai because it exports well over 100,000 cars from its Chennai facility and employs over 13,000 people. Over the last three years, its domestic fortunes haves been changing and it has witnessed a 10 per cent growth this year and has sold close to 44,000 cars. It also launched the Datsun brand, which falls under the affordable category and is priced under Rs 5 lakh, 18 months ago and hopes to usher in a change in the Indian habit of buying entry level cars while upgrading from bikes. BW|Businessworld caught up with Krishnan Sundarajan, chief vehicle engineering, Nissan Motor India. He feels that Indians want cars that are beyond functional and want more features to fuel their aspiration.