Moses Akaigwe
Nissan Africa, Middle East and India (AMI) has unveiled a comprehensive four-year strategy for the region under the company’s Global Transformation Plan.
The AMI business plan aligns with the global direction of rationalisation, prioritisation and focus to bring core models and technologies to a region that accounts for around 10 percent of the world automotive market.
The company will build on Nissan’s existing strengths in the region including continued growth in key markets and strong brand presence, maximising synergies with Alliance partners and leveraging an expansive and competitive manufacturing presence in South Africa, Egypt, India and Nigeria, where the partner, Stallion Nissan Motors Nigeria LTD, operates an assembly plant.
Nissan chief operating officer, Ashwani Gupta, said, “Africa, Middle East and India is an important region where we will target investment in existing strengths, including SUV, and bring eight new products to the market.
“By driving efficiencies through the alliance and focusing on core competencies, we will further increase the region’s profitability, especially in key markets including the Gulf, South Africa and Egypt.”
Chairman of the Africa, Middle East and India region, Guillaume Cartier, commented that: “The AMI region has enormous potential with some of the most dynamic and diverse automotive markets in the world.
“Nissan has already established a strong foundation for sustained growth with high brand equity, a deeply embedded heritage of Nissan DNA and culture and a long history of dedicated and experienced business partners in retail and manufacturing.
“Through the mid-term, we will remain focused on driving value for the business by meeting the needs of our customers across the region.”
Both Cartier and the managing director of Nissan South Africa, Shinkichi Izumi, spoke more on the plan last week during a virtual media round table involving journalists in the region.
AMI will follow the global transformation strategy, announced last month by chief executive officer, Makoto Uchida, which aims to achieve sustainable growth, financial stability and profitability by the end of fiscal year 2023.
In line with Nissan’s global plan, the AMI strategy is developed around two strategic areas of ‘rationalization’ and ‘prioritisation and focus’:
On Rationalize, the actions to improve regional cost and efficiency will include to
Optimise the regional product portfolio by 20 percent; further increase the cost competitiveness of local plants; Seek and enhance export opportunities from AMI plants; and leverage additional opportunities to reduce Fixed Cost
On Prioritize and Focus, actions to build on key strengths in products, markets and technology:
Product: Introduce eight new models; by market, focus on core models and segments to channel investment to most profitable products; regional priority on sport 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; and launchlocal 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; and Increase Digitalization and enhancement of the Customer Experience
AMI will leverage the new Alliance global cooperation model in which all partners (Groupe Renault, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation) will deepen synergies to support the competitiveness and profitability of member companies.
In AMI, the Alliance ‘leader-follower’ approach will enhance efficiency and competitiveness in products and technologies including common platforms and advanced technology, while there will be additional benefits through shared procured services including IS/IT and distribution.
The global ‘reference region’ scheme will also apply, with Alliance partners focusing on core regions to act as a reference for the other members. In AMI, Nissan will be the reference in the Middle East, South Africa and Egypt; Renault in Turkey and North Africa (excluding Egypt); with joint status in India.