THE car manufacturing facility of Renault-Nissan combine at Oragadam, Chennai is set to produce

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more cars on Nissan's global V-platform that has been developed to have broader appeal to customers in both developed and emerging markets.

The Oragadam plant, which was inaugurated on Wednesday in the presence of state chief minister M Karunanidhi, deputy chief minister M K Stalin, former prime minister of Japan Yoshiro Mori and the chairman and chief executive of Renault Nissan Alliance Carlos Ghosn, will roll-out Nissan's global compact car Micra, developed on V-platform, by May. The car is expected to hit the Indian roads by the end of July by when about 20 dealership points will be in operation mode to sell the cars. Export of Micras to Europe, Middle East and Africa will commence by September.

The car plant, which has so far seen investments of Rs 2,300 crore out of the committed Rs 4,500 crore for a total capacity of four lakh units, will be one of the key manufacturing hubs for Nissan's Micra. India along with China, Thailand and Mexico will manufacture Micras to be sold in about 160 countries. Indian factory alone will export Micras to over 100 countries.

Nissan is working on producing several models on its next generation Vplatform. Other than its compact car Micra, Nissan plans to produce a sedan and SUV on its V-platform next. “Our next product on V-platform will be a sedan and that will be manufactured in India,“ Vincent Cobee, corporate vice-president and programme head, V-platform, Nissan, said at the company's Oragadam plant. However, he declined to elaborate on the product.

He pointed out that one of the key features in the Vplatform was weight reduction, which is crucial for fuel economy. The company has achieved a weight reduction of 40-90 kg in a car depending upon the market. It has also reduced the number of parts used the in cars by 18 per cent.

“This platform is very flexible and is capable of adopting for different markets and different regulations,“ added Cobee.

Meanwhile, the Oragadam plant has also developed its auto parts supplier base of 96 companies, of which 50 per cent of them are located near Chennai, to achieve higher local content in its products. Micra is to come with over 80 per cent localisation.

In addition to Nissan's products, the Oragadam plant will also assemble Renault's Fluence and Koleos CKDs this year. While Fluence will compete in the D segment against products such as Toyota's Corolla and Skoda's Laura, Koleos, a SUV, will be positioned against SUVs like Honda CR-V.