Nissan Electric Vehicle confirmed for the Africa, Middle East & India region

Nissan has announced its four-year strategy for Africa, Middle East & India region (AMI) and will bring eight new products that includes an EV. We have sense that the Ariya is the model that is in consideration for a “phased deployment” as demand for crossover-SUVs is spiking in this region.

Under its Global Transformation Plan, Nissan intends to align the AMI business with its global direction of rationalization with focus on launching core models and technologies in these regions. Nissan’s Chief Operating Officer, Ashwani Gupta has said that the AMI is an important region and Nissan will target its investment on existing strengths including SUV and bring eight new products to this market region.

Guillaume Cartier, Chairman of the Africa, Middle East and India region, has said that the AMI region has great potential and has some of the most dynamic and diverse markets worldwide and Nissan Motor has already established a foundation for sustained growth. He further said that the company will remain focused on driving value by meeting the customer needs. The Renault-Nissan Alliance plant near Chennai is serving as a main production base for the AMI region since 2010 for Micra, Sunny and Datsun models, though plants in South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria also produce vehicles for the local markets.

Nissan’s strategy for the AMI region:

1) Rationalize: actions to improve regional cost & efficiency

• Optimise the regional product portfolio by 20% (refers to the discontinuation of old and non-performing models)
• Further increase the cost competitiveness of local plants
• Seek and enhance export opportunities from AMI plants
• Leverage additional opportunities to reduce Fixed Cost

2) Prioritize & Focus: actions to build on key strengths in products, markets & technology

Product:

• Introduce 8 new models
• By market, focus on core models and segments to channel investment to most profitable products
• Regional priority on Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) and affordable sedan models (B-sedan segment)

Market:

• Continue building on existing strengths in key markets including GCC, Saudi Arabia and Egypt
• Fully realize the opportunity of Africa and Turkey as high potential markets
• Launch local models including Navara in South Africa and B-SUV in India

Technology:

• Phased regional deployment of Nissan Intelligent Mobility including e-Power, EV and Connected technologies
• Increase Digitalization and enhancement of the customer experience

Nissan aims to sell 1 million Electrified models globally by end of FY 2023

In May, Nissan confirmed that e-Power (its self-charging series hybrid technology) will be introduced in 5 further models (excluding existing products Note, Serena and Kicks). Nissan also announced that it will introduce 5 EVs (including the Ariya and the 3 Chinese models) globally by 2023. By end of FY 2023, Nissan’s forecast for electrified vehicles will include 60% of sales in Japan, 23% in China, and 50% in Europe, totaling to 1 million cars.

Meanwhile, Nissan is gearing up to unveil the production version of its Nissan Ariya electric SUV next month, one that it has confirmed for Japan, Europe, USA and China. Though no details are available about the car’s specifications, Ariya is expected to offer range of up to 482 km in a single charge and looks 95 per cent similar to last year’s concept vehicle. ElectricVehicleWeb got word in early-2020 that the Nissan Leaf, a car that has been awaited in India for a long time, would launch by the end of the year, though the COVID-19 crisis could delay the program, and the availability of the Ariya could lead to a change in the strategy.