Hyundai and Nissan notch made-in-India export landmarks

Do you know that Hyundai Motor India, which began exports 10 years ago from Chennai Port, has till now shipped over 2 million cars? Or that Nissan Motor India, which began exporting its made-in-India cars in 2010, has till now despatched over 620,000 cars to overseas markets?

On July 27, Hyundai Motor India and Chennai Port Trust commemorated a decade of partnership. The Korean carmaker has been using Chennai port ever since its inception in 1996 and started exports through this port from the year 2000 onwards. It was in 2006 that the two entered into an agreement, prior to which Hyundai, which is using its India operations also as a small car hub, had exported 300,000 cars from Chennai. The India operation forms a critical part of Hyundai Motor Corp’s global export hub and currently exports to around 92 countries across Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Australia and the Asia Pacific. 

Yesterday, Cyril C George, chairman, Chennai Port Trust (pictured above), handed over a cheque of Rs 19.69 crore towards refund of wharfage charges for 2015-16 to YK Koo, managing director, Hyundai Motor India. Between 2006 and 2016, Hyundai has exported over 2 million cars and has received a total of Rs 165 crores as refund of wharfage. 

Commenting on the occasion, YK Koo said, “Exports have been integral to HMIL and we are happy to have had a great partnership with the Chennai Port which has only grown and strengthened over the years.  This association has not only helped catapult Hyundai as the No.1 exporter for over a decade but also helped HMIL play a critical role in Hyundai’s global operations.”

In February this year, Hyundai took the initiative along with Chennai Port to make coastal RoRo voyages a reality. It shipped 800 cars from Chennai Port to Pipavav, the country’s maiden coastal RoRo voyage from the east to west coast of India. 

Nissan Micra most exported car from India

Meanwhile, in June 2016, the Nissan Micra was the most exported car from India with 6,807 Micras being shipped abroad. Nissan says that since it operations in India began in 2010, it has exported over 620,000 cars, thereby contributing more than Rs 30,000 crore (US$ 4.35 billion) to the economy in foreign exchange.

The Nissan Micra, made at the Renault-Nissan Alliance plant in Oragadam near Chennai, is exported to more than a hundred countries. The United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Italy are the biggest customers of the car and the Made-in-India Micra helped Nissan achieve record sales in fiscal year 2015 making Nissan the top-selling Asian car brand in Europe.

Commenting on this, Guillaume Sicard, president, Nissan India Operations, said, “Nissan is proud our Made-in-India Nissan Micra was the most exported car in June, and proud of our contribution to the country’s economy. Our strategy has been to use exports to build a significant presence in India with our plant, the largest and most advanced in the Alliance, and our R&D centre which employs 5,000 engineers.”