Nissan in India

Japan’s Nissan Motor and India’s Ashok Leyland, part of the Hinduja Group, said that they will join hands to produce light commercial vehicles for India’s growing market.
A joint venture, Vehicle Manufacturing Company, will have a medium-term target of producing more than 100,000 vehicles a year, a joint statement said. The venture is studying where in India to manufacture them.Nissan, which is Japan’s third largest automaker, and Ashok Leyland will also set up two other joint ventures to manufacture and assemble engines and other parts. “Following previous announcements relating to expanding our passenger car business in India, this latest investment will broaden our coverage of this market,” Carlos Ghosn, head of Nissan and France’s Renault, said.Nissan has been setting up a race with rivals Toyota and Honda for a slice of the Indian market, which is expected to see steady expansion as the country’s middle class grows larger every day. Ghosn had said in June that Renault and Nissan, in which the French automaker holds a controlling stake, were considering launching a low-cost $3,000 car in India.Renault announced in November that it would build a car factory in the southern city of Chennai with local partner Mahindra and Mahindra, a $902 million project which Nissan later joined.