Japanese car maker Nissan’s and French car maker Renault’s jointly owned manufacturing unit in Oragadam, Chennai reached a milestone as it rolled out its 1,00,000th unit on August 26, 2011. Both the companies had together invested around Rs. 4,500 crores in setting up the manufacturing unit, which became operational in May, 2010.
At the 1,00,000th unit roll-out ceremony, Mr. Kou Kimura, MD and CEO, Renault Nissan Auto India, stated that the company which started the production in May last year, has between then and now rolled out one lakh cars from the facility. According to Mr. Kimura, this is the fastest roll out of 1,00,000 cars in India as the plant achieved this milestone in just 13 months.
The Oragadam plant which employs 4,000 people, apart from assembling Renault Fluence sedan, also manufactures Nissan Micra hatchback. The partner companies are currently working on the plan of increasing the production at their Chennai unit. “At current levels we can make 2 lakh cars a year, which we will double, work for which will start sooner as we will reach saturation levels of our existing capacity,” said Mr. Kimaru.
