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Is Magnite the last desperate attempt by Nissan to survive in the Indian Auto market

Nissan Motor India has launched much awaited compact SUV Magnite with a very aggressive pricing, car starts at Rs. 4.99 lakh. Everyone is surprized with the pricing because, you don't even get a good hatchback in this price. The road for Nissan is still not easy despite such low pricing because of various factors. Competition in this segment is as big and intense as the size of this segment, also well established and well accepted competitors have already acquired significant market share each. Major competitors for Magnite, Sonet which sold approx 11000 cars in October 2020, Breeza 12000, Venue 8800, Nexon 6800 .

I was going through one tweet by a veteran auto journalist and editor Auto Car India magazine, Hormazd Sorabjee, who has asked people, if they will prefer buying Maginte over an i20, Altroz & Baleno  because of pricing. Most of the people answered- 'NO'. They would prefer to buy i20 over Magnite.

There are many reasons why Nissan has failed badly in domestic market. Nissan could not retain good talent for a long time. In the last few years, over a dozen, top-level executives have moved out of the company due to rapidly falling domestic market share. Downsizing has been the constant practice over the last 1.5 years. Many middle and junior level executives were asked to leave the company. Understanding of customer needs, right product line with right design and adequate & effective dealer network were missing all along. Company has failed to create Nissan as a reliable, stylish and aspirational brand like Kia or Hyundai. Approximately 44 dealer outlets closed in 18 months during 2018-2019.

Nissan has been struggling to cross 1000 mark in sales nationally for many months now. ( Sep 2020- 751, Oct - 649, Nov-1017 with Magnite).There were speculations that like General Motors, Nissan also might exit from Indian market. I was going through one of the forums I follow, and people discussed about this openly & in detail.

We will have to wait for next couple of months to see whether Magnite proves to be the much needed 'saviour' for Nissan India.